Noteworthy...


The Latest on Music Education Policy from Capitol Hill


MENC, July 15, 2011


On June 28 more than 90 MENC division and state leaders spread out over Capitol Hill, summarizing for elected officials the 2011 Federal Legislative Requests of the National Association for Music Education. The Requests or “Asks” are: •That Congress maintain the arts as a core


subject under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) •That Congress specify that the Department of Education collect necessary data on education in music and the other arts •That Congress ensure that all federal funding under Title I and Title II applies to music education programs •That Congress


accountability provisions that include a measurement of music success


The leaders carried with them folders of detailed information on the Association’s legislative goals: that all students have access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, high-quality music education program.


The folder materials were left with legislators and their staff members so they have detailed music education advocacy information when education issues arise in Congress at a later date.


As important as that information is to making music education’s case, the leaders shared something equally important— personal stories of their work with students. In a final briefing before the Association


leaders headed to their meetings, Christopher Woodside, assistant executive director for the Association’s Center for Advocacy & Public Affairs, and Nancy Townes, director of government relations and advocacy communications, said meetings with legislators or their staff members, while often short, are very important.


Townes said that while it is important to “get to the point,” personal stories also help legislators and their staff members remember the message music educators bring to them.


include in ESEA


She said, “Personal stories can be effective. If you think about it, every year at the State of the Union address the president always includes the stories of ordinary people, and that is what many people remember.”


Woodside said, “Talk to them about how music matters to you, to your students, to their parents, emphasize how music can change kids’ lives.” He said that kind of communication works on the state and local level, too. It also helps to do some homework. Find out if elected members themselves or members of their families are involved in school music programs.


Here are a few of the experiences the Association’s leaders shared with legislators in June:


Personal Stories Denese Odegaard, president of


the


Association’s North Central Division, and the North Dakota Music Education Association executive director, told the story about a string competition that coincided with rising floodwaters in North Dakota a while back.


AMEA President Steve McLendon (L) and


Executive Director Garry Taylor (R) meet with U.S. Senator Richard C. Shelby’s


Legislative Assistant Andrew Newton. ala breve


Students, she said, were sandbagging their houses for several hours straight, but they took time to shower and dress for the competition, perform and go back to sandbagging in an effort to save their homes.


“We didn’t know who would show up, but the competition was important enough to them that they came,” Odegaard said.


AMEA President Steve McLendon,


U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions’ Legislative Assistant Hunter Walton, and


AMEA Executive Director Garry Taylor


Leaders of the Alabama Music Educators Association met with legislative staffers of U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions and U.S. Senator Richard C. Shelby, sessions that “went very well” and the folders of information they left behind stirred interest.


Alabama MEA President Steve McLendon noted that Sessions is a former elementary teacher. “His and Senator Shelby's office were very supportive of our asks. I will be sure to follow up [with them].”


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North Dakota visits included the offices of North Dakota Senators John Hoeven and Kent Conrad, and Congressman Rick Berg. Odegaard said the meetings went well, and that the information they presented was well received. She also said each of the congressional aides they met with “was the product of a great music program.”


Connecticut Music Education Association leaders, including John Kuhner (Eastern Division Past President), Kim Yannon (CMEA Immediate Past President), Dale Griffa (CMEA President), and Barbara Skrebutenas (CMEA Past President) visited seven legislators. Yannnon said they discussed in detail the Association’s 2011 Federal Legislative Requests in each office. Association President Scott C. Shuler joined


the group for the visit to Senator Richard Blumenthal's office.


“The Connecticut contingent also visited Senator Joseph Lieberman's offices, as well as Congressmen Jim Himes, Joe Courtney, and Christopher S. Murphy. We met with staffers in all five offices. An interesting discovery was that four out of the five staff members we met with were very involved in their schools' music programs,” she said.


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