Arts Education for All Act (H.R. 2485)

Arts Education for All Act

This bill expands arts education and programming for children in early education, K-12 students, and juveniles and adults in the criminal justice system.

Specifically, the bill allows Child Care and Development Block Grant funding to be used for additional activities, including arts programming.

Additionally, the bill addresses arts programming in elementary and secondary schools by

• directing each state educational agency to include information on arts programming in its state plan, including how it will integrate arts education instruction into the curriculum and increase the number of arts teachers in schools;
• requiring state report cards to include information on arts courses;
• requiring local educational agency (LEA) plans to describe how the LEA will encourage the use of arts education to improve student achievement; and
• allowing certain funds to be used for professional development for arts teachers.

The bill directs the National Center for Education Research to carry out research on the use of arts and arts education in elementary and secondary schools, including in low-performing schools. Further, the National Center for Education Statistics must compile data on arts education.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress must include a specified arts assessment.

The bill requires a state's juvenile justice and delinquency plan to describe how the state will coordinate services and activities for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention with arts agencies and arts organizations. Additionally, grants for adult offender reentry demonstration projects may be used for facilitating arts education.