Take Two Minutes to Stand Up for the Arts!
(An Arts Action Alert from Americans for the Arts)
Last week was a key week in federal education. The U.S. House passed its version of K-12 education legislation in a close vote, and the Senate held key amendment votes. Senators filed 136 amendments, debated 31 of those, and approved 19.
As the Senate enters its anticipated final week of floor consideration of the “Every Child Achieves Act,” help us keep up the momentum. Over 11,000 messages were sent to Congress last week making the case for strengthening arts education.
Consideration is expected this week of additional amendments, including a bipartisan amendment offered by Sens. Mark Kirk (R-IL),Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) that would encourage states to measure and publicly report on disparities in student access to educational resources, which could include the arts.
As the Senate enters the final stretch and hopeful passage, take two minutes to stand up for the arts. As you may recall, action like this hasn’t happened for 14 years, when Congress passed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2001. For additional background leading to this week’s Senate action, and details on the 11 “arts-friendly” provisions please see this blog post.
Help us continue this important work by becoming an official member of the Arts Action Fund. If you are not already a member, play your part by joining the Arts Action Fund today – it’s free and easy to join.
Thank you for your support of the arts and arts education!