GoArts News: April 30, 2009
- Senate and House Pass SB 3 and HB 3 on April 30
- Please Stop All Calls and Emails to the Legislature About These Bills
- Please Forward to All Who Received the Initial Alert
Quick facts:
- SB 3 and HB 3 (with several floor amendments) passed by unanimous votes in the Senate and House.
- As of 2011, one credit of fine arts will no longer be required for high school graduation (although schools must continue to offer fine arts).
- Senate passed an amendment by Senator Florence Shapiro to add a four-semester fine arts requirement for students in grades 6-8 (as of 2011).
- These bills will now move to the opposite chambers for further consideration.
- Your calls brought significant attention to the importance of fine arts in education. While the one-credit requirement was not restored, the effect of your calls does not end. Thank you!
Details:
On Wednesday Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 3, the accountability bills, were passed by the Senate and House, respectively. The vote in the Senate was 31-0 and in the House 146-0. These bills now move to the opposite chambers for further consideration.
High School Fine Arts Must Be Offered, But Students Will Not Be Required to Enroll
The accountability bills define how school districts and campuses will be rated beginning in the 2011 school year. Both bills were passed out of the Senate and House defining a new graduation plan that after twenty years, will not include a one-credit requirement for fine arts. To be clear, school districts will still have to offer fine arts in grades 6-12 but high school students will no longer be required to take fine arts. School districts will still be required by State Board rule minimally to offer one high school course in two of the four fine arts subjects of music, art, theater arts, and dance in high school. An amendment by Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) to restore the one-credit graduation requirement lost by a 17-14 vote.
Increasing Individual Elective Choices
The rationale for removing the one-credit fine arts requirement (along with numerous other subjects such as physical education, technology applications and communications applications) was to create more elective opportunities for students to pursue their individual interests and hopefully incentivize more students to stay in school and attend college. Certainly eight academic electives will provide opportunities for the serious fine arts student to take more fine arts courses in high school. Our charge and challenge will be to determine effective ways to attract students to our high school programs and make that experience a meaningful part of their education and preparation for the 21st century workforce. We must also work to ensure that high schools continue to offer students a wide selection of fine arts courses from which to choose.
Four-Semester Middle School Fine Arts Requirement Added by Senator Shapiro
Senator Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) amended SB3 to include a four-semester fine arts requirement in grades 6-8. Senate Shapiro recognizes the importance of arts education and believes that students can make more informed decisions about high school electives if they have rigorous and meaningful experiences in the arts in middle school. The amendment passed unanimously.
Implementation Timeline
Implementation of the graduation plans and new middle school requirement will begin in 2011, if retained in the final legislation. That means the first students to graduate under the new 4x4+2 graduation plan will graduate in 2015. Those students are now in the sixth grade. Students currently in seventh grade will be required to fulfill the one-credit fine arts requirement to graduate, so implementation of the 4x4+2 is by no means immediate.
Fine Arts Community Spoke Out
Your voice was heard loud and clear at the Capitol. The fine arts community was united in its message, and despite the fact that the vote did not go our way, there is a new-found respect for the fine arts community in this state. Please recognize that most members of the legislature were sympathetic to our call for a fine arts requirement, but since this graduation plan was only a small part of a 150-page bill that is critical to education moving forward in this state and for easing the emphasis on TAKS, legislators basically believed they could not vote against it because of this single issue.
Fine Arts Included in Accountability System
The bill also specifies the inclusion of fine arts in the Texas accountability system for the first time in history, and campuses will have the opportunity to strive for either a commended or exemplary recognition in fine arts in what will be called the “distinction tier.” Hopefully this will be a strong motivator for your administration to support your local program.
Moving Forward
So what can we do during the remainder of the session to ensure our students receive quality fine arts education? In the final days of the session, we will alert you if any further action is needed to protect the middle school requirement in the final version of the bill.
The TAKS pull-out bill (SB 1364 by Senator Shapiro) is also moving forward and we may need your assistance to help ensure its passage. We will keep you posted on how this bill is progressing.
Thank You For Your Support
Thank you for your prompt response to this issue. Fine arts advocates are passionate about our discipline and how we serve students through the arts. I believe the leadership at the Capitol heard your message of support, and future efforts to keep the arts alive in our schools will be given a high priority.