As state legislatures gavel into session across the country, music and arts educators are facing a defining moment. State budgets are under pressure. Workforce-skills mandates are reshaping diploma requirements. And in too many places, arts education is being treated as a cultural amenity rather than a core academic subject. The Music IS Education Coalition kicked off 2026 with a deep look at the data, a real-world model from Indiana, and a lesson in relationship-building that reached all the way to a governor’s podium in West Virginia.
The Risks Are Growing — and Becoming More Intertwined
Bob Morrison, founder of Quadrant Research and the Arts Education Data Project, presented the findings of the Coalition’s second National Music Education State Leaders Survey, comparing results from the spring and fall of 2025. The shift in priorities tells an urgent story.
In the spring, state leaders’ top concern was decreases to state education funding. By fall, the picture had grown more complex. Narrowing of the curriculum had moved to number one, with workforce-skills framing that excludes the arts rising to number two, and threats to graduation pathways newly prominent in the list. These aren’t separate problems — they’re interconnected. When states narrow curriculum through workforce mandates, graduation requirements weaken. When requirements weaken, programs lose their institutional footing.
New concerns also emerged in the fall: programs increasingly perceived as supplemental rather than essential, instructional time lost to response-to-intervention periods and social-emotional learning mandates, and a sense of cultural and political pressure bearing down on the arts. As Morrison put it, “insufficient funding, weakened policy protections, staffing gaps, and cultural undervaluing are combining together” to undermine what’s happening at the state level.
State leaders also identified what they need most: coordination and leadership, ready-to-use advocacy materials, coaching and peer mentorship, and stronger data and storytelling tools. The survey makes clear that our advocates are motivated — they just need backup.
One tool already available: Karl B, the Coalition’s AI-powered music advocacy assistant at musiciseducation.org. Karl B has been updated to include resources on working with school boards, navigating the school budget process, addressing workforce skills arguments, and creating advocacy campaigns. Morrison encouraged every advocate to take it for a test drive.
Indiana: A Cautionary Tale and a Model for What’s Possible
The Indiana Arts Education Network offered one of the most honest and instructive conversations of the evening. The short version: Indiana once had strong arts education advocacy infrastructure, COVID interrupted the momentum, and when a new governor eliminated the state’s two-credit arts requirement from the high school diploma, advocates were caught off guard.
“We just didn’t see it coming,” said Tim Cox, director of educational outreach at Music for All and the network’s executive director. “We had our noses to the grindstone, taught every day, and then the rug got taken out.”
The response has been a model of coalition thinking. The Indiana Arts Education Network reorganized in early 2025, incorporated as a 501(c)(6) lobbying organization, hired a lobbyist, and rebuilt its board to intentionally represent four sectors: PreK–12 education, higher education, nonprofits, and arts industry. They have now convened three Indiana Music and Arts Education Summits — bringing together the full arts spectrum to coordinate messaging around the new diploma requirements.
Dr. Brian Widner of Butler University offered a striking insight from the process: “Arts education wasn’t even thought about as they were having these conversations.” A state board member openly said the board wasn’t trying to get rid of the arts — “just like we’re not getting rid of football.” That comment crystallized the challenge: arts education had been repositioned in policymakers’ minds as a cultural activity, not a curricular priority. Indiana’s advocates are now doing the hard work of rebuilding that identity — and on the day of the webinar, they had just met with the Indiana Secretary of Education to bring forward real solutions.
West Virginia: When Relationships Reach the Governor’s Podium
Chiho Feindler, chief program officer for Save the Music Foundation, shared a very different kind of story — one about what’s possible when long-term relationship-building pays off.
Save the Music has been working in West Virginia since 2009, now providing instruments to nearly every middle school in all 55 counties. The work was built through a champion inside state government who rose to a governor-appointed cabinet position. Over time, it reached the first lady’s office. It resulted in proclamations from the governor and the state senate.
And then, in West Virginia’s annual State of the State address, the governor stood at the podium and recognized Save the Music — by name, in the room — and told legislators that every dollar invested in the arts returns $23 in value. The data point was in the governor’s prepared remarks because someone had built the relationship to put it there.
Feindler’s lesson was direct: “Find your champion.” Build relationships not in a crisis, but before one. Show up to school board meetings to say thank you. Invite legislators to your concerts before you ever need to ask them for something. As several speakers echoed throughout the evening, nobody shows up to advocate for music education when things are going well — and that is exactly when the most important groundwork gets laid.
Your Action Agenda for 2026
The January webinar closed with a set of clear, concrete calls to action. Here’s where to focus your energy now:
Know your State of the State. Every governor delivers one in January or February. Visit the National Governors Association website to find your state’s date, and track what education proposals are being floated. The Education Commission of the States tracks education-related proposals; use their resources to stay ahead of what’s moving.
Build relationships before you need them. Connect with your state’s school boards association, principals’ association, and business administrators. These organizations have paid lobbyists and real-time intelligence on education policy. Be in that mix now. Ask them to flag any arts education legislation when it hits their radar.
Defend graduation requirements at all costs. Whether arts are a standalone graduation requirement or blended into a diploma pathway, that requirement is your most important line of protection. Wherever workforce-skills framing threatens to sideline the arts, come prepared with data and stories that connect music and arts education to the outcomes policymakers care about.
Get familiar with Karl B. The Coalition’s AI advocacy assistant at musiciseducation.org has tools for school board engagement, budget navigation, workforce messaging, and creating advocacy campaigns. Use it. Share it with your colleagues.
Watch for the Maestro Act. NAfME is releasing state-level model legislation — the Maestro Act — in late January. This is two years of work, partially funded by the MusicMan Foundation and CMA Foundation, addressing arts funding, K–8 participation requirements, graduation requirements, and teacher recruitment and retention. It’s designed to help state MEA leaders be proactive and get bills introduced.
The theme of the evening was unmistakable: the risks are real, they are accelerating, and they are interconnected. But so is the response. Advocates in Indiana are organizing. A West Virginia governor has spoken the case for arts investment from the podium. State leaders across the country are mobilizing, and the Coalition’s tools, resources, and community are growing to meet them. The question now is not whether to act — it’s whether you’ll act before a crisis forces your hand.