I wanted to post another response that my “activist” friend received from writing her senator about her concerns about the budget cuts for public programming…I do hope they mean what they say in their letters. At least they’re writing back!
Dear Mrs. Graves:
Thank you for contacting me about arts education. It was good to hear from you.
I am a strong supporter of arts education. As a former music student myself, I believe every student should have access to this valuable area of study. Not only does arts education offer students the opportunity to express themselves creatively, but it has also been linked to higher academic performance and lower dropout rates.
As you may know, the federal Arts in Education program is administered by the U.S. Department of Education, complementing arts education programs administered by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Arts in Education program authorizes funding for the establishment of model arts education programs, development of arts curricula, design or arts assessments, and creation of model professional development activities in the arts for teachers and administrators.
I have fought for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the Arts in Education program. Please know I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure continued federal funding for arts education during the fiscal year 2005 appropriations process.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me about arts education.
Sincerely,
Patty Murray
United States Senator
Posted on July 12th, 2005 by Sam
Filed under: Uncategorized, Daily Life, Read This!
[…] gment. 90MM dollars, come on? When we’re looking at cuts in funding programming like PBS she wants to spend 90MM dollars on a study of a subject that frankly has been st […]