The purpose of this study was to examine and understand the decision making process for keeping or cutting music programs in one selected public school district. Berkley School District, in the Detroit suburb of Berkley, Michigan, has not made extreme cuts to the music program in over ten years, nor have they specifically targeted their music program when budgets cuts do occur. Berkley's profile shows that their numbers for school enrollment, minority student percentage, number of students receiving free and reduced lunch, and percent of English language learners are all situated in the median of these demographics for the surrounding school districts. Similarly, Berkley's budget does not exceed their neighboring districts. The results showed that Berkley Schools District's Administrators have commitment to offering a well-rounded education to all of their students, and that music education plays a large part in that education. To achieve the district's mission, Berkley administrators rely on community support, quality teaching, and creative ways of working with a finite budget. Leaders in the district actively seek ways to generate new revenue, collaborate with other districts to save money and only make cuts to areas that do not affect programming. Research shows that administrators, parents, teachers, and students claim to value music education. Yet, in an age of increasing accountability in core subjects such as math and reading that coincides with economic hardships such as layoffs and rising health care costs, music education faces reduced or eliminated budgets, programs, and staffing. Some schools have eliminated K-5 curricular music, while others cancelled after school programs, cut teachers, or required remaining teachers to work overloaded schedules. While some schools have made drastic cuts, however, other schools and even entire school districts have not cut music, or at least have not targeted music education specifically when trying to save revenue. Hopefully Berkley's success with a fixed budget and limited state support might encourage other music educators and administrators to understand new ways to advocate for, and keep music alive within their own schools. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]