GoArts News: May 13, 2009
Senator Florence (R-Plano) Champions Arts Education on Floor of Senate
Today Senator Shapiro amended House Bill 3, the accountability bill, to include one credit of fine arts and physical education in the Recommended Program graduation plan on the floor of the Senate. The amendment passed unanimously. Senators Nelson, Van de Putte and Hinojosa all praised her for her efforts.
This plan will require 26 credits to graduate – four credits each in math, science, English language arts and social studies, two credits of foreign language, and one credit each of fine arts and physical education. Fine arts students will have seven electives (counting the requirement) and marching band students with the PE waiver will have eight. The current Recommended Program includes 3.5 electives.
The four-semester middle school fine arts requirement is still included in the bill but either the requirement will be lowered to two credits in conference or the State Board of Education will be charged with drafting rules to address a fine arts middle school requirement. This decision to decrease the four-semester requirement was based on responses from school districts about the concern for staffing, facilities, and funding. Now the bill goes to the House where members will most likely not concur with the Senate amendments and then the bill will go to conference committee. We will send an alert soon for you to encourage your House member to accept the Senate amendments.
This plan is the best of both worlds – it retains the fine arts requirement and the message it sends to school districts regarding the importance of the arts while it increases the number of electives over the current graduation plan. I encourage you to contact Senator Shapiro’s office and thank her for championing this cause. Her contact information is as follows:
Capitol Address:
P.O. Box 12068, Capitol Station
Austin, TX 78711
Capitol email: florence.shapiro@senate.state.tx.us