The *Arts for a Complete Education (ACE) Leadership Summit was held in Orlando on June 16 – 18, 2008.  FSMTA is a statewide partner and part of the Advisory Board.  The Board was fielding questions about the future of the arts in Florida communities and schools and requesting input on how the arts advocacy should be developed over the next five years.  There is a lot of concern over the lack of funding from the Legislature for schools and community arts programs.  *now known as Florida Alliance for Arts Education (FAAE) www.faae.org and moved home office to Orlando.

Concerns:

Amendment #5 - Replacement of ad valor em taxes required by the legislature with other funds for education” prohibits continuing to use property taxes (ad valor em taxes) as part of the “required local effort” for the Florida Education Finance Program. This removes approximately $9.5 Billion from state revenues.

According to the amendment language to replace those revenues, the legislature may

• repeal exemptions on sales tax
• increase of one percentage point to the state sales tax (would produce about $3 billion),
• reduce other component of the state budget,
• or find other revenues identified or created by the legislature.

While the amendment specifies that education cannot be funded in 2010-2011 for less than was appropriated in 2008-2009, there is no provision that education funding for future years cannot be less

High School Fine Arts Credit:
2009-2010 - 1 credit in Fine Arts (visual art, music, dance, theater) needed to graduation
2010-2011 – 1 credit in Fine Arts (or speech)
2012 – 1 credit in Fine Arts, speech, debate, or practical arts (courses to be decided by individual school principals)

 P.E. requirement waivers:
Parents will be notified that there are situations where a waiver may be given for the P.E. credit.  A waiver for half of the credit may be given for a student who has a personal fitness plan or is involved in out-of-school activities such as dance or gymnastics.  Half of the credit is also waived for membership in marching band.

Remediation:  students who have a 1, 2, or 3 on the FCAT will not receive classes in P.E. or Fine Arts.

Major Area of Interest: gives Middle School students the opportunity to explore careers so that they are prepared to selected areas of study in High School.  FAAE is hoping to give Middle School students more opportunities to enroll in arts classes and have knowledge on areas where the arts and academics can be joined for a successful, well paying career. There is a. FAAE sponsored website www.ExploringArtsCareers.net which interviews people in five careers that are not commonly recognized as occupations  in the arts.  They are lighting design, arts administrator, museum educator, mall designer and music therapist.  There will be more careers added and the website will be fully operative the middle of July.  Local workshops for educators are being held by FAAE coalitions to show the connection between academic classes and careers in the arts.  It is hoped that counselors and parents will gain more knowledge of arts careers and direct students to these fields of study.

Respectfully submitted,

Sonja A. Rozier, Arts Awareness and Advocacy Chair

As the 2008 Legislative Session looms in the near future, we will be receiving Legislative Alerts from the Florida Alliance for Arts Education, as we are one of their State Partners. There are bills that will be brought before the Legislature that will greatly impact the arts for students in Florida. Please read these Alerts and share with any FSMTA member or friend who can help us fight for our children's arts education. Current alerts can be found of the FMEA website.
 

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