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Music teacher Cheri Collins is proud of the popularity of the strings and band programs at Kings Glen Elementary School in Springfield. Out of the 481 students enrolled in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades this year, all but 93 are taking these classes, Collins said.

"These music programs are what make this county great," said Collins, who teaches strings classes.

These popular programs, however, are in peril. Facing a large budget shortfall, Fairfax County Public Schools is looking to cut $162 million and more than 1,700 jobs from its fiscal 2011 budget. The proposed cuts, which face approval by the county Board of Education next spring, include the elimination of elementary school band and strings programs — a $7 million savings, according to school officials.

The cuts are expected during a bad budget year, said Collins, but this year they feel more serious. In the mid-1990s, Collins said, music teachers were given pink slips because of budget cuts.

"I think I was like one [teacher] away from getting a pink slip," she said, adding that sometime during the summer, the schools reorganized and pulled back on the cuts. "It took a really long time to rebuild the program after that."

Parents also worry their children's education may suffer if the programs are cut.

"I'm very distressed by the thought of cutting the program," said Ronni Sainati, whose son Leo, 10, is a violin player at Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences in Reston. "Most of the kids I know play strictly within their school lessons," she said, adding that parents who cannot afford private lessons rely on these programs to provide instrument education access to their children.

Sainati said that in the case of Hunters Woods, removal of the program would mean taking away something that makes the school special.

Jamie Korelitz's sixth-grade son, Ryan Golant, 11, plays violin and French horn for Haycock Elementary School in Falls Church. Her older son, Jared Golant, 15, plays clarinet at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Korelitz said neither she nor her husband play musical instruments, so their sons' interests in pursuing music started with school programs.

"There's sports and music. That's how you build teamwork and camaraderie," Korelitz said of the band and strings programs. "They need to start in elementary school. It's too late by middle school or high school." Had her sons started their music education in the 7th grade, they would not be able to compete against children in other districts. But more than that, Korelitz said her children have gotten something from their school-based music instruction that they might not have received without it.

"Personal growth — it just adds so much to them," she said.

"If the program is not offered until middle school, it will simply be too late to attract student musicians, especially when music programs are competing with so many other elective options," said Patty Lankenau of Oakhill, whose fifth-grade son Jack,11, plays cello at Crossfield Elementary School in Herndon. Her sons in high school, Andrew, 17, and Mikey, 15, attend Oakton High School in Vienna and also play string instruments.

"I am certain that if strings were not offered to my children in their elementary school setting, they would not have been drawn to music, and their lives would be much less rich," Lankenau said.

Keith Taylor, a K-12 music specialist for the school system, said removal of the program would be countywide.

"Fairfax County has been a lighthouse, a leader in music education in the state," he said. About 24,900 elementary school students — or about 70 percent — were enrolled in band or strings programs last year, a number that continues to increase, Taylor said.

Eliminating these programs, he said, would cause a domino effect in the quality and quantity of musicians performing in the middle and high school band and strings programs.

"It will cut the roots off the tree," he said. "It will finish [the programs] in two years. ... You won't recognize the band programs in Fairfax County."

Additionally, the cuts would eliminate 146 teaching positions, Taylor said.

Not included in the cuts are choir programs. He said these programs were left out of the cuts because the school system considers them part of the system's core curriculum.

But Michael Blakeslee, of the National Association of Music Education, based in Reston, said band and strings programs are considered core curriculum under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

"There is a long-standing correlation between kids who play music and SAT scores, graduation rates and attendance," Blakeslee said. "If you don't have strong programs at the elementary school level, you won't have programs at the high school level."

Like with reading, science or any other discipline, it's important that the sequence of music is maintained and started at a young age, Blakeslee said.

"You can take a bunch of kids in 10th grade and give them a bunch of instruments to play, but it won't have the same outcome," he said, adding that the financial savings hoped for by the school system is not there.

"Those students have to go somewhere," Blakeslee said, adding that band classroom sizes usually range in the 40s. "In the long run, you're taking a highly cost-effective program and putting them in other classrooms."

Parents of past and present band and strings students are appealing to the school system not to make cuts to the programs.

"I am thankful that my children were able to participate in music studies from an early age," said Don Celli, whose son now studies music at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. His daughter, a junior at Oakton High School, is a member of the school band program. "I remain convinced that music had a positive impact on them both. It would be tragic for students to be deprived of this opportunity due to the current budgetary crisis."