Thanks to NAfME’s advocacy efforts, the U.S. Department of Education just released the long-requested guidance on federal funds & arts education this afternoon! The letter lists all five disciplines (dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts) and explains how funds under Titles I, II, III, and IV-A of ESSA; IDEA; 21st Century Community Learning Centers; and Perkins CTE can be used to support arts education.

Please see the update below from NAfME by Amanda Karhuse.

“We are very excited to share some fantastic news from the U.S. Department of Education. They just released the long-requested guidance on federal funds & arts education this afternoon! The letter lists all five disciplines (dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts) and explains how funds under Titles I, II, III, and IV-A of ESSA; IDEA; 21^st Century Community Learning Centers; and Perkins CTE can be used to support arts education.

https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/education-policy/letter-chief-state-school-officers-arts-education

Other members of the Arts Education Alliance, Americans for the Arts, the League of American Orchestras, and I were invited to a sneak preview briefing this morning where they shared some details about the “Dear Colleague” letter to state education agencies. They also praised us for our “excellent advocacy” since we have been pushing for this guidance for quite some time (the last time this type of guidance was released in 2013). There have been multiple meetings with Department of Ed staff, and we also worked with Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (OR) and Chellie Pingree (ME) to send a bipartisan letter to the Secretary on our behalf.”

The NAfME Advocacy team has released a press release for the Arts Education Alliance.