GoArts News March 18, 2011:
SB 140 Moves from the Senate
SB 140, the TAKS pull-out bill, was passed to engrossment yesterday on the floor of the Senate as a part of the local and uncontested calendar and has now been sent to the House. Hopefully the bill will be scheduled for a hearing before the House Public Education Committee in the near future.
Legislative Fine Arts Education Caucus Launched
On March 15, caucus co-chairs Senator Leticia Van de Putte and Representative Mark Shelton sent invitations to the 150 representatives and 31 senators to join the newly formed arts education caucus. The role of the caucus is simply to heighten legislators' awareness of the importance of arts education. The latest in advocacy information will be shared with members at appropriate times throughout the remainder of the session.
Op Ed Distributed Statewide
On March 16, an op ed communicating the importance of arts education and asking the legislature and local school districts to not disproportionately cut fine arts programs was distributed to over 300 media sources across the state. Several newspapers have already published it. You can download the op ed below and distribute it to decision makers as you deem appropriate. We encourage you to contact your local newspaper and ask them to consider publishing it.
Op Ed: Don't Cut Fine Arts More Than Other Academic Subjects