U.S. Senate Passes 2010 Omnibus Appropriations Bill: Some Provisions of Interest to Arts Educators

The U.S. Senate passed the 2010 Omnibus Appropriations bill (H.R. 3288) by a vote of 57 to 35. This was actually a vote on a conference report worked out in House/Senate negotiations.

The bill, passed earlier by the House 221-202, was not amended by the Senate which means it will now go to President Barack Obama for his signature. The president has not indicated whether he will sign the bill. Reporters discussed the bill with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Monday.

According to Michael Blakeslee, MENC senior deputy executive director, the bill contains two provisions that benefit the cause of arts education: one for model program grants and another for professional development grants.

The model program funding appears to be for programs already in the pipeline, but the professional development grants will be for new projects so music educators may be eligible to apply for those.

Read a summary of the bill
Follow other policy developments of interest to music educators