Grassroots Action Center

Welcome to the NAfME Grassroots Action Center!

 

Grassroots action center

Here you will find different ways to:

  • Support Music Education in Federal Education Policy

  • Get Involved with the Legislative Process

  • Engage Your Members in Congress

Grassroots Action Center Menu

State Education Budgets |Homework Gap | Title IV-A Stories

Tell Congress to Support
State Education Budgets

Everyone has seen the effects of the battered economy, but as educators, we have not yet felt the worst. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the combined revenue shortfall for state budgets—not including additional costs incurred by COVID-19—will be approximately $650 billion. States are already looking to revise their budgets for the current and next fiscal years. Many are considering cuts across the board, including millions of dollars from education budgets.

NAfME and our affiliates believe that Congress must appropriate at least $200 billion specifically for education for states to avoid drastic negative consequences. Without this funding, music programs will be jeopardized, and students will not have the access to a well-rounded education that they need and deserve.

We are asking you to reach out to your members of Congress to request $200 billion in the next legislative relief package to backfill state education budgets. Fill out the form here, and feel free to add your own personal stories about how music has helped you and your students cope with these trying times. Together, we will get through this, and ensure that our students and schools will too.

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This map shows where in the country educators are urging Congress to act! Make sure your state is represented!  

 

Ready to do More?
Tell Congress to Address the ‘Homework Gap’

The ‘Homework Gap’ is a term referring to the unequal opportunity experienced by students who lack home internet access. Recent estimates suggest between 8 and 12 million K-12 students in the United States are unable to log online for distance learning, and that students from rural communities and racial minority groups are disproportionately affected.

The Homework Gap adversely impacted students long before the pandemic we see today. Without home internet access, millions of students were at a significant disadvantage in completing projects, research, and study, often completing homework using borrowed devices in fast-food restaurants offering free Wi-Fi. With students now stuck at home and schools moving almost completely online, closing the Homework Gap is more urgent than ever.

Congress has the power to authorize funding specifically for this crisis. NAfME is joining the efforts of other national education organizations to advocate for emergency funding to be provided to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) E-Rate program, which is the largest federal education technology program. The FCC can and should use E-Rate to help school districts procure discounted laptops and WiFi hotspots to be loaned out to students.     

Click Here to send a message to your Members of Congress urging them to close the Homework Gap.

Your Title IV-A Success Story

FY 2018’s funds will be available for the 2018 – 2019 school year. If you have received Title IV-A funding previously or will receive funding for the upcoming school year, we want to hear YOUR story!

Visit bit.ly/TitleIVMusicAndArts to tell us your Title IV story:

  • How much funding did you receive?
  • What was the funding used for?
  • How has it benefited your students?
  • How has it benefited you as an educator in providing a well-rounded education?
  • By using these funds, are you closer to providing a “quality” music program, as outlined in the OTL standards?

Your stories are vital to helping NAfME advocate for music education! Although Title IV-A received a significant increase in FY 2018, the new funding number is still short of the grant’s authorized amount of $1.6 billion.  This information will help us get closer to that goal!