Middle School credit requirements for arts, health, and PE are saved! For now at least. 

Recently, the state school board voted 11-4 to press the pause button on Rule 277-700 (the rule change that eliminated the credits), and send it back to the Standards and Assessment committee! This is the best possible result that we hoped for because now we can work with the members of the Standards and Assessment committee to craft a policy that maintains arts ed as a core part of a well-rounded education. The committee will likely discuss any such policy at their November meeting.

 

Please thank these board members for voting to send 277-700 back to committee: Terryl Warner, Spencer Stokes, Linda Hansen, Jennifer Graviet, Laura Belnap, Brittney Cummins, Carol Barlow-Lear, Janet Cannon, Kathleen Riebe, Lisa Cummins, and Scott Nielson.*

 

Joel Wright, Alisa Ellis, and Michelle Boulter voted no. We think Mark Huntsman abstained. It is hard to tell exactly because they vote via roll call. Supporters of the rule change think that arts education isn't going anywhere because schools would have been required to offer it but students wouldn't be required to take it. This isn't a policy that we at Utah Cultural Alliance can accept because we know that all children should have a minimum, equitable level of arts and humanities education in order to have a well-rounded education.

 

NEXT STEPS

We have to keep up the pressure! Continue to reach out to your school board representative and ask them to keep arts, health, and PE as core requirements of a well-rounded education. If your school board representative serves on the Standards and Assessment committee, please especially make an effort to reach out to them before the first Friday in November. Those members are:

 

Laura Belnap, Chair

Lisa Cummins

Jennifer Graviet

Spencer Stokes

Terryl Warner