With the political conventions concluded and the balloon drops and acceptance speeches out of the way, focus shifts to the November 6 presidential election. NAfME studied the Democratic and Republican platforms to see what they say (or don’t say) about arts and education reform.
However, Chris Woodside, assistant executive director for advocacy and public affairs at the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), said that “party platforms are, to a large extent, convention ‘window dressing,’ and they often do not accurately reflect the views of the nominees. Nevertheless, they are a legitimate jumping off point for gaining a better understanding of each party’s general analysis of the issues.”
Woodside’s assessment of the two platforms from an arts education and education standpoint is as follows:
The Democratic Platform Read the Democratic Platform The Republican Platform Read the Republican Platform The NAfME Advocacy and Public Affairs staff will monitor education and arts issues during the U.S. Presidential campaign this fall. Follow those and other developments.