Sara Womack AMEA President-Elect
Hand in Hand: National and Local Advocacy for Music Education
MENC has a strong vision for advocacy by soliciting widespread support for quality music education. In fact, MENC has budgeted $786,725 for advocacy this fiscal year, which is nearly 11% of the total MENC expenses. Advocacy is the first of seven strategic directions to fulfill MENC’s mission of advancing music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all. The direction includes creating advocacy- based programs and professional development opportunities, such as Music in Our Schools Month and Music Education Week, as well as compiling facts, quotes, research, and statistics on music education. As part of the strategic plan for advocacy, MENC has also developed legislative “asks,” which outline points that we would like our elected officials to support in upcoming legislation. The requests are:
We ask: Congress to maintain the status of the arts as a core subject academic subject under ESEA, Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101 (11), also known as “No Child Left Behind.” We ask: Congress to stipulate that the
Department of Education collect the necessary federal data on education in music and the other arts.
We ask: Congress to ensure that all federal funding under Title I and Title II is made applicable to music education programs, and that Congress increase arts in education funding in order to make certain that all students are provided with a complete education including music.
We ask: Congress to include in ESEA accountability provisions, which include a measurement of music success.
The AMEA Governing Board has envisioned similar advocacy efforts across the state to align national progress with local goals. Therefore, an Advocacy Committee has been appointed to develop a strategic plan for how to best enact state advocacy efforts. The following representatives from each division will serve on the committee:
Sara Womack, Elementary/General, Chair Tim Hammond, ABA Clay McKinney, AOA Kathy Hughes, AVA Moya Nordlund, CMENC Billy Viliunas, HED
The Advocacy Committee has begun work on developing a list of “asks,” which will be presented to our elected officials in Montgomery. We will also cultivate a strategic plan for how to best present our “asks” to further our vision, as well as how to overcome possible barriers. In our long-range plan, the AMEA Governing Board hopes to partner with other arts education organizations in Alabama to advocate for a broad-based education in the arts for all students. Please contact your Advocacy Committee representative if you have any ideas or questions regarding our efforts to bring music education to all students in Alabama.
On September 1, MENC officially assumes a new name: “National Association for Music Education, or NAfME. According to Executive Director Michael Butera, “National Association for Music Education” says exactly what we are and what we want: an organization for music education for everyone in our nation, an association that supports music teachers and the profession of music education, a group that isn’t inward-looking and static but outward-reaching and forward-thinking.
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