Fine Arts & Dual Language Academies: Turning Under-Enrolled Schools into Destination Campuses
Updated: Aug 9
The Challenge
The building is half empty. Deferred maintenance costs continue to mount. The consultant's recommendation lands on the table, and the room goes quiet.
Arts and Language Academies represent one possible answer.
During my time in Arlington ISD, the transformation was never simply about changing the name on the building. It required a strategic capital investment to create learning environments that matched a reimagined educational vision. A compelling academic model, paired with purposeful facility improvements, became the one-two punch that attracted families, revitalized underutilized campuses, and transformed vacant classrooms into thriving centers of learning.
The question isn't whether districts can afford to think differently. It's whether they can afford not to.
The Question That Changed Everything
In the winter of 2014, I was sitting in that room in Arlington ISD when a namesake elementary school—one with deep political, historical, and emotional ties to the community—was recommended for closure. Worried glances. Rising anxiety. And a question began to form in my mind.
I raised my hand.
"What if we turned Corey Elementary into a districtwide Fine Arts Academy?"
The room paused.
It wasn't a random idea. Corey Elementary was named in honor of Dean Corey, a longtime band director and fine arts administrator whose impact helped shape Arlington ISD's music program. Rather than closing a campus that carried his legacy, why not reimagine it in a way that honored his contributions while creating new opportunities for future generations?
That question led to $172 million in sustained capital investment, a K–12 continuum that now includes four campuses, TASA/TASB Stars of Distinction awards, and one of the most sought-after choice programs in the district—with waitlists that reflect sustained enrollment demand and long-term retention, not just short-term popularity.
Total Fine Arts & Dual Language Capital Investment:
Corey ES: $20M
Jones ES: $20M
Gunn JH: $62M
Arlington HS: $73M
Recently, in The Cost of Not Playing, we explored the hidden costs when students don't participate in music. This is the other side of that equation: what becomes possible when a district leans into fine arts as infrastructure—not as a cost center, but as a solution to enrollment, facilities, and access challenges that have nothing to do with music on the surface.
This isn't just a "popular program." It's a documented district strategy that turned under-utilized buildings into high-demand choice academies and reshaped how Arlington ISD thinks about capital investment.
Here's how it happened.
From One Academy to a District Strategy
The consultant looked at me, unsure whether to dismiss or embrace the idea. After a long pause, he surprised me by agreeing.
"Yes. Parents will choose it."
A districtwide Fine Arts Academy could solve two problems at once—giving families a compelling educational choice while filling a building that otherwise faced closure.
I agreed, but with one important condition.
If this was going to work, transportation had to be provided. Without it, the academy's composition would become a self-fulfilling prophecy, serving only families with the means to get there. This had to remain a public school academy, not simply a magnet program in another form. That philosophy would later influence the design of Arlington ISD's Fine Arts Center as well.
Then the conversation took another turn.
Later in the meeting, a second elementary campus—Roquemore Elementary—was also identified for closure. Someone looked across the table and asked, "What about another Fine Arts Academy?"
I wasn't convinced.
Two Fine Arts Academies could unintentionally draw students away from the district's other 52 elementary schools. Instead, I proposed a complementary strategy.
What if the second campus became a Spanish Language Immersion Academy?
"Families with children this age aren't just looking for great schools—they're also looking for language opportunities."
To illustrate the point, I held up a picture of our young daughter on my phone.
My wife, Gwendolyn, was an elementary music teacher in Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, and we arranged for her to transfer to one of the district's Spanish immersion campuses because we wanted our daughter, Kierstyn, to have the opportunity to participate in the program. We weren't describing a hypothetical family decision—we had made that decision ourselves.
A Better Question
As the programming was developed, the concept evolved into something even more ambitious. Rather than creating separate Fine Arts and Language academies, we asked a different question:
Why not combine them?
The best district initiatives rarely solve just one problem. They address multiple strategic priorities simultaneously.
The result was a curriculum that offered Spanish language immersion for core content and instruction in four arts strands: music, visual art, dance, and theater. We even added a piano class to the rotation, ensuring that all students would experience music daily.
Buildings Don't Fill Themselves
The success of this idea was not just in its execution but in the commitment of everyone involved. The facilities work was strategic, not cosmetic, aligning physical space with the program’s academic and cultural goals and setting the stage for continued investment and expansion district-wide. A year was spent developing a thoughtful program and curriculum, ensuring that the Fine Arts Academy would be more than just a name change—it would be a place where students could thrive.
And thrive they did. What began as a solution to under-enrollment became a driver of it—the academy's demand outpaced capacity, and the model held steady enough to justify a $62M junior high expansion and a $73M high school renovation as those first cohorts advanced. That's a different kind of validation than popularity: it's a program districts kept investing in because it kept performing.
The success at the elementary level has grown into a full K–12 continuum: students continue in the Fine Arts & Dual Language pathway at Gunn Junior High and then at Arlington High School, creating a seamless progression of arts and language immersion instruction through graduation.
As the first cohorts progressed, a transformation of a junior high became necessary to sustain the Fine Arts & Dual Language continuum. Arlington ISD’s commitment to the fine arts and dual language strand is visible not only in enrollment and program demand but in its capital investment. The Gunn Junior High campus — revitalized with a $62M redevelopment that supports arts, language, and community spaces — reflects the strategic prioritization of access and excellence.
The Gunn Junior High Fine Arts & Dual Language Academy — a continuation of this strand — earned multiple Stars of Distinction awards for community planning and transformation, validating how academic strategy drove impactful investment in facilities.
The Leadership Lesson
Looking back on it, I feel incredibly fortunate to have been part of such an innovative and collaborative effort. It wasn’t just about creating a program but providing access and excellence to every student, no matter their background. We brought together a dedicated team from world languages, fine arts, academics, and facilities to make this dream a reality. Although many of the team members have since moved on to new roles and projects, the impact of their work continues to resonate today.
Years later, it's easy to see the academies as permanent fixtures. It's harder to remember that each began as an idea raised around a conference table during one of the district's most difficult conversations.
And now, as I watch the first kindergartners from the program move into a renovated—$73M—Arlington High School, I can’t help but reflect on how special that time was. We were working not just for the present but for the future of Arlington ISD. We knew we were part of something important—something that would benefit students for years to come.
The districts that thrive over the next decade may not be those that simply manage decline most efficiently. They may be the ones that recognize opportunity where others see only empty buildings. Sometimes the most valuable asset a district already owns isn't the building itself—it's the possibility of reimagining what happens inside it.
***
Jeremy L. Earnhart, Ed.D.
Founder & Principal
School Music & Fine Arts, LLC
Former President & CEO, Music for All
Former Director of Fine Arts, Arlington ISD & Irving ISD
Research at the intersection of educational strategy, organizational design, and school finance. Helping school leaders uncover hidden capacity, strengthen student opportunity, and improve organizational performance through strategic fine arts design.
His work has been covered by The New York Times, NPR/KERA, Marketplace, CBS 11, NBC 5, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The New York Times highlighted Arlington ISD's decision to eliminate instrument rental fees, noting that band participation at the middle and high school levels "jumped" (Rich, 2015).
That work continues in The Cost of Not Playing (2026), Dr. Earnhart’s ongoing research on the systems-level impact of music participation in public schools.
His doctoral research centered around the competencies of the central office music administrator:
Comments