Arts advocates made their case at the Capitol during a Senate Education Committee meeting. They want lawmakers to make fine arts part of the Iowa Core for K-12 education. Leon Kuehner, executive director of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education and a former band director, says the arts are a fundamental part of education.
"Fine arts education is a tool that can prepare students for success in school, success in the work space, and success in life,” says Kuehner. "We believe firmly that fine arts education for all the students in Iowa is part of a basic and fundamental education that every student in Iowa deserves.”
Kuehner says 27 other states list fine arts as a core or academic subject. Right now science, math, social studies, 21st-Century Skills, and literacy are the subjects in Iowa's Core. Last year the Democratically-controlled Senate approved a bill adding fine arts to Iowa’s Core, but it was defeated in the Republican-controlled House. Senate leaders say they’ll try again during this session.
