This campaign has now passed. Visit this page for updates.
Last week, prior to Thanksgiving, Congress reached a compromise agreement to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The compromise bill, known as the “Every Student Succeeds Act,” includes music as part of the new “Well-Rounded Education” provision (previously known as “Core Academic Subjects”), which provides increased opportunities for access to music education.
To that end, the time has come to act once again to urge Congress to fix NCLB and pass a new version of ESEA; one that will improve access to music and arts for all students. We urge you to contact your members of Congress TODAY and ask them to support passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Please take action here below by sending your representatives and senators a short letter asking for their support of the bill.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on ESSA tomorrow, Wednesday, December 2nd. In the days after that, the Senate will follow suit. Our window of opportunity is short and NOW is the time to act to ensure our students receive a Well-Rounded Education. This past March, we were able to send more than 10,000 letters to Congress to make “music” a part of the Well-Rounded Education provision. It is the time to finish what we started; contact your members of Congress TODAY and ask them to support passage of this important legislation!
We will continue to provide updates as we push for the finish line. You will find the latest analyses and updates regarding ESEA/ESSA on our Take Action page on NAfME.org.
Ronny Lau, Legislative Policy Advisor, Center for Advocacy, Policy, and Constituency Engagement, December 1, 2015. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)
