Working for a Representative from my home state of Tennessee was immensely rewarding, particularly because my office placed high priority on constituent services. If constituents took the time to schedule a meeting to discuss their concerns, chances were high that the Representative would do what he could to co-sponsor the bill in question, write a letter of inquiry, or make a speech on the House floor. However, Capitol Hill isn’t the only place to connect with your legislator. Meetings right where constituents live and work—at home in the district—can have just as much impact.

2015 was a huge year for the arts! From the monumental new federal K-12 education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, to a funding increase of $2 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, to key federal charitable tax provisions being made permanent, arts and arts education policy have progressed immensely this past year.

As the leading organization for advancing the arts and arts education in the nation, Americans for the Arts' Federal Affairs team keeps its finger on the legislative pulse line of Capitol Hill and champions arts and arts education friendly legislation such as the newly passed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)*. 

Americans for the Arts is also passionate about empowering positive arts and arts education policy at the state and local levels, where there is much less political gridlock and thus more opportunity for positive change to occur. Our State and Local Government Affairs team connects individuals to their respective State Arts Action Network (SAAN) members, tracks arts and arts education legislation at the state and local levels to study trends, and enables members to lead grassroots action on state and local issues through our e-advocacy tool, Voter Voice. 

With the publication of National Core Arts Standards in 2014, states around the country began to consider how they might inform standards at the state level. While each state process is unique, there is much to be learned from our colleagues at different points in the journey.

The state of Montana is nearing the end of their adoption process (scheduled adoption date is July, 2016). Last week, I had the opportunity to ask Superintendent Denise Juneau, a former teacher who understands well how a well-rounded education that includes the arts leads to college and career preparedness, about the work Montana has undertaken over the last year.

The essential question that needs to be asked as Congress moves to complete the first substantive reauthorization of federal education legislation since 2001 is different than the one we may instinctively pose. It always seems that simplest truths are the most powerful and, in this case, the one thing that binds everyone reading this, is this: We believe in the arts as a powerful way to enhance the lives of young people. Young people need the arts.

With that simple seed, our guiding question in looking at federal legislation needs embrace that fundamental idea. When we look at the reauthorization of the ESEA, we need to broaden the question beyond ‘How do we get arts into schools?’ to ‘How do we get the arts to young people?’

It has been 20 years since Americans for the Arts and others worked diligently to ensure that the arts were included as core subjects in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). As we celebrate Arts in Education Week in Chicago, I am reminded of how important the arts’ inclusion in ESEA truly is to not only our schools but to our community partners.

For more than 30 years, Chicago’s arts and culture community filled educational gaps, encouraged youth participation in the arts, and worked with CPS to incorporate the arts where it could given budgetary and instructional time constraints. My arts education for example, came largely from a gifted program offered by two community partners; the Art Institute of Chicago and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

I became aware of the recent flurry of activity around the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) almost accidentally; the acronym ESEA was hardly familiar when I first heard it. I was at a California Arts Council meeting, our discussion in full view of the public, and the tape was rolling for posterity. I had been riffing on the entire NCLB experience as it had affected arts education, especially the past nine years (!!) of non-authorized, non-replaced limbo, when a staff member mentioned optimism about the upcoming Senate vote on the new bill, the Every Child Can Achieve Act. Later it passed by an 81-17 margin and now we await a House vote and most likely a bill on President Obama’s desk this fall.

Here in New York City, and around the nation, this is a pivotal moment for arts education.

Fifteen years after the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, which many credit with a pronounced narrowing of the curriculum in public schools across the country, an earnest effort to reduce the most onerous mandates of the law is underway.

The conversation around school accountability is beginning to shift from a test-based model to a more holistic view of what we expect of our public schools. And advocates are making the case for a more robust role for arts education in the debate over reauthorization of NCLB.

Anyone who has ever watched a play or a musical knows that there are two acts.  This summer, legislation moved forward to transform the current Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) for the first time in over 14 years.  The storyline from the first act has been filled with twists and turns with the arts seemingly being a cautionary tale in its wake.  So, what can we expect in the second?

Setting the Scene

We opened our story in 1965 with the groundbreaking Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).  This original law was meant to provide more equity to schools across the country.  In 2002, we saw the revamp known as No Child Left Behind enter the scene with an “era of accountability” at its core. Testing - lots of testing - became the new normal. Schools were required to issue testing in reading and math so that we could get a measurement of their success or failure.  And ever since, the law has received nothing more than patches along the way. 

Just imagine how our lives in the arts would really be impacted if we didn’t have a U.S Department of Education (USDOE). This does not necessarily mean we would not have an ESEA, as the ESEA predates the U.S Department of Education (1965 and 1980 respectively), but they are fundamentally linked. So consider, if the USDOE was dissolved, how would that impact the reauthorization of the ESEA, and the arts in your locale? 

To me, words are quite wonderful. Some are even paintings in the sense that you look at the words and get an immediate visual. So the sadness and unintended consequences conveyed by the words "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) are quite visceral to me. Initiating a movement away from the negative ramifications of NCLB on student achievement, Congress is now transforming this legislation, which had caused an emphasis on testing and an imperative to teach to the test.  This, in turn, lessened time for process-oriented subjects like the arts. Happily, the legislation is well on its way to transforming NCLB into the inspirational "Every Child Achieves" Act, which focuses on a more holistic approach to a comprehensive education for all students.  To me, that holds the promise of meaningful change in our schools and positive academic outcomes for students.

Creative Many is headquartered in TechTown, Detroit’s self-styled “business innovation hub.” Our office in Michigan’s capital city is co-located with The Runway, an incubator helping startup fashion designers produce and market their collections. Both TechTown and The Runway are emblematic of the exploding creative sector in Michigan.

According to the Creative State Michigan 2014: Creative Industries Report, in FY 2011, the creative sector accounted for over $3.6 billion in wages to 74,049 employees in more than 9,700 businesses in the Great Lakes State. This accounts for nearly 3 percent of Michigan’s employment totals, more than 3 percent of total wages and 4.6 percent of total state businesses in leading core industries such as advertising, publishing and printing industry, design, film/media and broadcasting and architecture.

How does the Reauthorization of ESEA connect to the 2014 National Core Arts Standards?

The Senate “Every Child Achieves Act” version of ESEA contains language which is supportive of the intent and the content of the National Core Arts Standards.

1. The Senate bill includes a listing of core academic subjects which funding in the bill can support, including Title I, the largest allocation of education funding at the federal level. The arts and music are listed as core academic subjects in the Senate version of the bill, allowing federal funds to support learning in all the arts (see page 549).

2. The Senate bill includes language which is supportive of states creating rigorous academic content standards in all (core) academic subjects, including the arts and music. The National Core Arts Standards were written with that intent in mind – that states would utilize the new national, voluntary arts education standards to create standards of their own.

Can Title I funds be used to support arts education?

Yes - Title I funds have had the ability to support supplemental arts education programs in our nation’s public schools since the current bill (No Child Left Behind) became law in 2002. The arts are listed as a core academic subject in Title IX of the law, and Title I supports this by requesting schools to create research-based Title I programs linked to quality standards in core academic subjects. 

Perhaps I never should have agreed to take part in this blog roundup on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The reason is simple: I don’t believe ESEA will be reauthorized this year.

I have been the Odd One Out in a host of optimistic conversations all year. Most of my colleagues believe that this time, for sure, the 50-year-old ESEA (last updated in 2001) will actually be reauthorized.

I remain unconvinced. Remember Lucy and the football? I ask them. Every year, Charlie Brown convinced himself that this time Lucy would hold that football and let him kick it. And every year he was disappointed. Those who believe the federal government will give them legislative relief from onerous aspects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) this year are, I fear, setting themselves up for the same letdown.

On July 16, 2015, the U.S. Senate passed its bipartisan Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization proposal, the Every Child Achieves Act (S.1177), by a margin of 81 to 17. Under this legislation, the “arts” are recognized as a core academic subject and would receive their rightful place in the main instructional day.

The Americans for the Arts, along with more than a dozen national arts education organizations were approved by the Senate education committee to define the “arts” to include dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts. These art disciplines are now eligible due to their inclusion in the National Core Arts Standards.  As the over 4 to 1 Senate vote indicates, there is significant bipartisan support for dance and the arts.

The whirlwind of recent congressional activity on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), ultimately culminating in the Senate’s passage of the bipartisan Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177) and the House’s Student Success Act (H.R. 5), has sparked a great number of questions from music and arts educators, as to the implications of these pieces of legislation, both in policy and practice. For those interested, a thorough legislative analysis of what exactly the bills WOULD do for music and arts (primarily as a result of their listing as core academic subjects) is available from Americans for the Arts. I am routinely asked by music educators, however, about several bigger picture issues, and how they pertain to the Senate bill, in particular, with regard to what it WOULD NOT do. As such, I thought it would be useful to try and speak to those concerns directly, all at once – and try to outline the limits of a new ESEA.