Malden students speak out after band program cut amid budget shortfall

MALDEN, Mo. (KBSI) — What started as heartbreak in a high school band room has turned into a student-led movement in Malden, where students are speaking out after the district cut its long-running band program amid major budget pressures.

For Sophomore Elizabeth “Liz” Hillis and Senior Ella Hankins, the decision was not just about losing a class. They say it upended future plans, stripped away a safe place for students and forced them to fight for something they believe defines more than music.

“When we got up and we walked back to the band room after hearing that news, everyone was in tears,” Hillis said. “Nobody was not crying.”

The Malden R-1 School District Board of Education cut the band program as part of about an $800,000 budget shortfall. Superintendent Carie Fowler said the district has already made multiple cuts, including staffing positions.

“This year we had three teaching positions and one open position we did not fill, and then this last cut was band and it was due to the lack of participation,” Fowler said. “We have 10 students enrolled in band and we have 10 enrolled for next year…without getting the public funds that we need, there’s going to have to be cuts that are made,” she added.

For students, the impact was immediate and emotional.

“For me the hardest part was seeing all of them sobbing because their passion, their dreams, it was just gone, and there was no say so in it,” Hankins said.

Hillis said the decision also changed how she viewed her future.

“My plans of what I was doing after high school were totally flipped,” she said.

Students say band was more than a class, describing it as a place where they found connection and support.

The loss of the program also affects students in ways some outside the band room may not realize. Band is a fine arts credit needed toward graduation, they said, and for some students, it provides a form of expression that other activities do not.

“Band was an outlet, a safe place for me,” Hillis said. “That place where you can go and just be yourself.”

After learning about the cut, students quickly took action.

“Seeing everyone in tears, I was just bawling,” Hillis said. “I told Ella… we have to do something.”

Their petition quickly gained traction beyond southeast Missouri, drawing support from artists including Sheryl Crow, Stephen Wilson Jr., Cole Chaney, High Fade, Logan Halstead and Maggie Rose.

“Stephen Wilson said and I quote… ‘sports is cool and all, but music changes the world,’” Hillis said.

The students said that kind of support reinforced for them that music matters well beyond their school.

“Sheryl Crow lived 20 minutes away,” Hillis said, referring to the artist’s Bootheel roots. “The fact that a music program got stripped and other music programs are being stripped away, it’s heartbreaking because music has been an outlet for every single one of these artists.”

Students say not all reactions have been supportive, but they remain focused on being heard.

“We’ve seen that firsthand… adults posting on Facebook about these teenagers in Malden being noisy,” Hankins said. “But the truth is you have to make noise to have change.”

That idea has become central to how the students describe their effort — not as rebellion, they say, but as advocacy.

Fowler said the district understands the frustration and emphasized that she supports the students’ rights to use their voice.

When asked whether the situation speaks to a broader funding issue in public education, Fowler said, “Absolutely. It does. Absolutely.”

She urged community members to speak up in support of public education.

“Really speak out. Speak to your legislators, your representatives, your senators. Share the word on public education. We have to fund it,” Fowler said.

While the district is moving forward without a full-time band program, Fowler announced what she described as a partial path forward: a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Missouri that will bring back a limited band opportunity on Mondays next school year.

“We are going to be able to provide them a band program on Mondays… so those students will have the ability to have access to music instruments,” Fowler said.

Students say while it is not a full replacement, it shows their efforts are making an impact.

“That’s more than I could ask for,” Hillis said of the Monday program. “It’s so comforting knowing that they will still have that safe place to go to, even if it’s only one day a week.”

The students say they are still hoping district leaders will take another look, but they also hope their story sends a message to others in small towns who feel unheard.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are, where you’re from,” Hillis said. “We’re in the Bootheel right now, in a tiny town, and we’ve reached millions of people on people’s platforms, acknowledging that we’re something and we’re not just kids making noise.”

MHS Band Petition: www.change.org