Reply to Open Letter to Secretary of Education Duncan

The 10-year gap between the previous FRSS arts survey and the one conducted in the 2009-10 school year was much longer than many arts education advocates, including your association and many others, desired.   It was an unfortunate circumstance that while Congress actually called for another survey to be implemented as early as 2006, it wasn’t until Fiscal Year 2008 that funds were appropriated to enable the department to carry out the survey directive from Congress.  My hope is that internal budget planning by the department can be done in order to avoid us having to await a directive again from the Congress to implement the next FRSS survey.  If, for instance, we were successful in including funds for the next survey in the Fiscal Year 2013 budget, that would allow the survey to  be done during the 2014-15 school year, permitting a status report and comparative analysis with prior survey administrations at a five-year interval.  We should know by early next year, when the  President’s FY 2013 budget is presented to the Congress, if this will be possible.  As I’m involved in discussions in the department concerning the possibility that funds would be included for the next FRSS survey, it’s helpful for me to have the written support of the National Association for Music Education – MENC as well as the support of the other associations that cosigned the letter to Secretary Duncan.

In the meantime, I know that the Arts Working Group has made a legislative recommendation relative to the pending reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) Act that NCES be required to collect and disseminate full and complete statistics on the condition and progress of education at all levels, pre-K through adult, in all core academic subject areas.  Should such a measure be adopted when the ESEA is reauthorized, the need for periodic surveys using the FRSS could be diminished or even eliminated.

As always, it is good to know that you and others in the national arts education community are sharing your desires for the Department of Education’s support for arts education with the Secretary of Education.  In some small way, I hope that my reply on his behalf is helpful to you and your colleagues.

Best regards,