YourVoice.Now Summary
Transparency & AccountabilityWorkers & JobsCriminal Justice & Due ProcessSchool report cards would show which arts classes schools offer and who takes them — and national tests would cover the arts.
Transparency & Accountability
State report cards would list each school's arts courses, their average class size, and how much class time they get. Today report cards do not have to include any arts data.
Each semester, states would report the share of schools offering arts, students taking arts, and arts classes taught by fully licensed teachers. They would compare those numbers between the state's highest-poverty and lowest-poverty schools.
Today the national test called NAEP covers the arts only when time and money allow. The arts would have to be tested at least as often, and in the same grades, as was planned before July 24, 2021.
Workers & Jobs
Districts that use federal teacher-training funds would have to provide training for arts teachers, as needed. They would also train other teachers to bring the arts into math, reading, and science.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Federal grants for adult reentry projects could pay for arts education. The goal is to help people leaving prison or jail avoid new crimes and find school or work.
More about this bill
If your child attends a public school, your state's school report cards would show how much arts education each school offers. They would list arts courses, class sizes, and class time. Each semester, they would also show the share of students taking arts classes. Those numbers would be compared between the state's highest-poverty and lowest-poverty schools. State and district plans for federal school aid would have to explain how they will grow arts teaching. Some schools are flagged because a group of students keeps falling behind. Their improvement plans would review the arts classes they offer and add arts courses. Districts using federal teacher-training money would have to train arts teachers. They would also train other teachers to use the arts in math, reading, and science. The national school test, called NAEP, would have to cover the arts on its pre-2021 schedule. Federal researchers would study which ways of teaching the arts work best. Child care training funds, after-school programs, and adult reentry programs could also be used for arts learning.
Congressional Summary
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.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-09-30
- Date Added
- 2026-10-16
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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