Advocacy Is Telling the Good News
The Music IS Education Coalition’s May webinar was a celebration — a year-end showcase of real advocacy wins from across the country, and a reminder that sustained, strategic effort produces results.
From a packed Arizona school board meeting to a five-year legislative campaign in New York State, advocates from four states shared their breakthroughs, their setbacks, and the tactics other advocates can borrow right now. The message across all four stories was the same: this work is hard, it takes time, and it works.
The session was facilitated by Jazzmone Sutton, Senior Director of State Advocacy and Equity for NAfME, and moderated by Mark Despotakis of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association.
Mesa, Arizona: Two Years, Two Wins, One Community That Showed Up
Mesa Public Schools is the largest school district in Arizona — 56,000 students, 140 music teachers K through 12, and a long tradition of excellence in the arts. It is also a district that has been facing budget shortfalls driven by declining enrollment, and two years ago those shortfalls put music squarely in the crosshairs.
Scott Burgener, the district’s music education department specialist, described what happened when a district design team recommended cutting general music in grades four through six and significantly restructuring band and orchestra at the elementary level. Music teachers spread the word. Parents rallied. And on the night of the school board vote, more than 200 people packed the boardroom — the vast majority there to speak up for music.
The outcome surprised even the advocates: the school board had never wanted to cut music in the first place. It was the district administration looking for savings wherever it could find them. Music, not required by Arizona law, was an easy target. The board chose instead to draw from its rainy day fund — committing several million dollars — to preserve music for another year while the design team was sent back to look for more creative solutions.
“We saved music at the end of the 24–25 school year — but we knew we’d be back at the advocacy game again the following year.” — Scott Burgener, Mesa Public Schools
In year two, the design team expanded to include more parents and teachers — and ultimately couldn’t bring itself to recommend cuts either. A community survey confirmed what advocates already knew: support for music was overwhelming. The district ultimately found savings by restructuring administrative positions instead.
The design team has been asked to meet for a third time. Burgger’s message was clear: winning once doesn’t mean the work is over. You build relationships, you stay engaged, and you keep the community informed. Mesa has now defended its music programs two years in a row — and that track record is itself a tool other advocates can point to.
Ohio: Making Karl B Your Monday Morning Habit
Jay Wardeska, executive director of both the Ohio Music Education Association and the Ohio Foundation for Music Education, came to the webinar with a different kind of win — not a legislative victory, but a workflow that has made him a more effective advocate with fewer resources.
Ohio has faced significant funding pressures, and after losing two staff positions focused on media and advocacy, Wardesca found himself doing that work alone. His solution: a four-step AI-powered process he can complete in about 15 minutes every Monday morning.
He starts with Perplexity to research current Ohio news stories on music education funding and policy. He then uses those findings — along with a carefully crafted prompt — to generate messaging in Karl B, the Music IS Education Coalition’s free AI advocacy assistant. Karl B produces options in three tones: celebratory, informative, and call to action — tailored for different audiences, from legislators to social media followers. Wardesca then takes Karl B’s image description prompt into a visual generation tool to produce graphics, and uses Canva or Adobe Express for any longer-format documents.
“I still find Karl B is way ahead of the curve in terms of producing what I’m looking for in advocacy communication.” — Jay Wardeska, Ohio Music Education Association
The result: three or four polished, ready-to-post social media campaigns, plus leave-behind documents tailored to specific schools or districts facing cuts — all within a single focused morning. Wardesca noted that Ohio, unfortunately, never lacks for content these days. But this process has given him a way to respond quickly, consistently, and professionally despite limited capacity.
Virginia: A Seal, a Surprise, and the Power of Not Giving Up
Michelle Milligan, co-chair of advocacy and government relations for the Virginia Music Educators Association and performing arts coordinator for Prince William County Public Schools, shared a year that included both a major proactive win and a defensive battle that almost caught the field off guard.
The celebrated win: House Bill 478, establishing a Diplomacy for Excellence in Fine Arts for Virginia students. The bill takes effect July 1 and represents the first formal state recognition of the arts as part of a well-rounded education in Virginia. The effort began when Annie Ray — the 2024 Grammy Music Educator of the Year — identified an opportunity and secured Delegate Vivian Watts as the bill’s sponsor. From there, VMEA built momentum through the Virginia Coalition for Fine Arts Education, aligned messaging across partner organizations, and ran two highly successful NAfME grassroots campaigns.
But Virginia’s year also included a harder fight. A bill proposed raising class size limits for sixth-grade ensemble music from 35 to 45 students. On its face it sounded like it could expand access — but VMEA recognized the real risk: fewer sections, more students crammed in, and a degradation of instructional quality. The bill flew through the Senate unanimously before advocates could get a public comment on record.
VMEA responded with a statewide survey to document the actual impact, coordinated outreach with partners and members, and kept the pressure on as the bill crossed over to the House. By then the advocacy had been loud enough that the sponsoring patron withdrew the bill before it was even presented on the House side.
Milligan’s takeaways: build relationships before you need them, keep the message focused on students rather than jobs or programs, and treat every contact — teachers, parents, boosters, legislators — as a potential partner.
New York: Five Years, One Goal, and a Finish Line in Sight
Lori Orestano-James of the New York State Alliance for Arts Education brought the longest-arc story of the night — and arguably the most instructive lesson for advocates who feel like they’re running out of patience.
Since 1951, New York’s education law has listed the subjects every student is entitled to receive. Music and the arts were never on that list. For decades, that omission gave districts cover to eliminate arts programs whenever budgets got tight: the law was only regulatory, not statutory, meaning districts were technically supposed to offer arts but nobody was watching.
Five years ago, advocates decided that needed to change. Working through the New York State School Music Association and ultimately reconstituting the New York State Alliance for Arts Education, they built a broad coalition: the New York State United Teachers, the state PTA, the Rural School Boards Association, business organizations, college students, and high school seniors bringing civic engagement credit to the cause.
Their legislation — Senate Bill 6318A — would do two things: make arts education part of the statutory law, and require that it be taught by certified arts teachers. After five years of work, the bill has now passed the New York State Senate twice in the current session. As of the webinar, it had cleared a majority in the Assembly and was being flagged as a priority bill by the governor’s office. Orestano-James expressed confidence that the bill would reach the governor’s desk before the end of June.
“Good advocacy can take time. Don’t become discouraged.” — Lori Orestano-James, New York State Alliance for Arts Education
Her advice to advocates in the room: don’t talk about the jobs — talk about the students. Talk about what the programs offer children. And play the long game, because sometimes that is the only game there is.
Your Next Step
Across all four stories, the same themes emerged: stay engaged year-round, build relationships before you need them, keep the message focused on students, and use every tool available. Here’s how to put that into practice:
- Try Karl B at musiciseducation.org — the Coalition’s free AI advocacy assistant. Use it to draft testimony, prepare for a difficult meeting, generate social media content, or research talking points. If Jay Wardeska can turn 15 minutes on a Monday morning into a full week’s worth of advocacy content, so can you.
- Visit the Music IS Education website (musiciseducation.org) for the full library of advocacy resources, including the budget monitoring guide and state-specific tools.
- Engage your members of Congress through NAfME’s federal funding campaign — the link was shared in the webinar chat. Federal funding is a small portion of school budgets, but Congress responds when constituents make their voices heard.
- Connect with other advocates in your state. Mesa, Virginia, Ohio, and New York each succeeded in part because they built networks. Your state association, your NAfME chapter, your local booster groups — they are all potential partners. If you don’t have those connections yet, start building them now, before the next budget season begins.
- Watch for the Coalition’s fall webinar — details will be announced via email and at musiciseducation.org. Check the YouTube channel for recordings of all past sessions.
The wins are real. The tools are there. The network is stronger than you think. What’s your next step?
Music IS Education is a national coalition supporting state and local music education advocacy. Learn more and access all Coalition resources at musiciseducation.org.