Ensuring Equitable Access to Elementary Music Instruction for Michigan’s Children

Music is a basic, fundamental form of human expression. Every culture known to history has had its own musical traditions, practices, and rituals. Philosophers, teachers, and leaders throughout the ages have considered music to be a vital part of civil society. Music allows humans to express how and what they feel in ways that other academic disciplines do not.  In order to receive a complete, comprehensive, and balanced education, every student must be afforded the opportunity to experience a sequential program of music education that develops and embraces musical expression and literacy, delivered by certified music educators.

The Goals 2000: Educate America Act—passed in 1994—designated the arts a national core subject for the first time.[i] This designation continued with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which identified the need to “[strengthen] arts education as an integral part of the elementary school and secondary school curriculum.”[ii] The universality of music and its inclusion as a core subject in federal statutes should naturally lead to a music education requirement for all public school students. Since 2011, all graduates of Michigan high schools have been required to take one credit in the Visual Performing and Applied Arts (VPAA), which includes music. However, there has never been a music requirement for Michigan’s elementary school students.

K-5 Music Requirements in Other States

A recent Department of Education study showed that 94% of all public elementary schools in the United States offer elementary general music.[iii] Data collected by the Arts Education Partnership revealed that 46 states require “arts education” in some form (including both the musical and visual arts), with thirty-three states having a specific requirement for weekly music instruction in the elementary grades.[iv] Only four states (Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan) and the District of Columbia have no statutory requirement for elementary music.

A bill to establish equitable access to school music for all of Michigan's children is now being proposed in the Michigan legislature. The bill includes the following provisions:

• Students in grades K to 5 must be provided weekly music instruction during the school day
• Music classes must be taught by a certified music teacher 
• Schools must maintain an elementary general music teacher-to-student ratio of no more than 1:400
• School districts must adopt and implement a music curricula developed at the local level, and consistent with state and national standards
• Each elementary school building must have a dedicated classroom or teaching space for music teaching and learning
• School districts must establish and maintain an appropriate budget for music instruction

Please show your support for this legislation ensuring equitable access to music education for Michigan's children by signing this petition, and share this petition with your networks by using email and social media.

For more information on policy issues related to music education, please visit the Partnership for Music Education Policy Development website.

Thank you for your support for music education for Michigan's children!

[i] Goals 2000, Sec.102.2.3A
[ii] NCLB, Sec.5551.a.1
[iii] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10, document 2012-014 (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2012), 5.
[iv] “A Snapshot of State Policies for Arts Education,” Arts Education Partnership website http://www.aep-arts.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A-Snapshot-of-State-Policies-for-Arts-Education.pdf, accessed 14 April 2014.