ADVOCACY LETTERS & TESTIMONY
Browse AEMS's advocacy letters and testimony, submitted on behalf of AEMS and Maryland's arts education community to work towards equitable arts education access for all of Maryland's public school students.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Stakeholder Engagement Presentation
On March 25, 2025 AEMS' Executive Director, Rachel McGrain, and Director of Operations, Peter Dayton, gave a presentation to the State Board of Education highlighting recent arts education advocacy efforts, educator concerns, and recognized Arts in Our Schools Month in March.
Watch here.
LETTERS TO THE STATE
MARCH 1, 2023
Since December 2021, the MSDE position supervising the content area of Fine Arts
has been vacant. Both AEMS and Maryland’s four statewide arts education
professional associations (MAEA, MDEA, MMEA, MTEA) have written to your office
requesting action on this matter, as it has significant consequences for Maryland’s arts educators and the quality of instruction Maryland’s public school students receive,
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JUNE 6, 2023
On March 1, 2023, AEMS submitted a letter to you, in collaboration with
Maryland’s arts education professional associations, requesting information and
action on a number of key areas affecting arts education in Maryland. While we
were unable to meet with you personally to discuss these matters, we did receive
an audience with several Deputy Superintendents to discuss the issues
enumerated in our letter.
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MARCH 11, 2024
March is a time replete with county-wide and statewide competitions, spring musical performances, and art exhibitions. It was also in March of last year that AEMS and the leadership of the
Maryland Dance Education Association, Maryland Music Educators Association,
Maryland Art Education Association, and the Maryland Theatre Education Association wrote a letter to the previous Superintendent regarding key issues affecting arts educators in the state of Maryland and requesting action on these key issues. We are happy to provide a summary of these key issues and to report that each of them has been meaningfully addressed in the past 12 months!
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LETTERS TO
LOCAL EDUCATION AGENCIES
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BLUEPRINT FOR MARYLAND'S FUTURE
Throughout the implementation process of the Blueprint for Maryland's Future legislation at both the state and local levels, AEMS has pushed to ensure that the arts are not left out. Education without the arts is not a world-class education!
SUBJECT: Statewide Draft Implementation Plan
MARCH 13, 2024
SUBJECT: Worcester County Meeting & Blueprint Funding
To Rachel Hise, Chair Leggett and the Accountability and Implementation Board:
AEMS is aware of, and is deeply concerned by, much of the reporting surrounding the comments made by Ms. Hise and Chair Leggett during a virtual meeting with officials of Worcester County regarding Blueprint funding and its uses for the school system. The comments from these AIB members, as they have been reported on, about areas that should or should not be prioritized in school funding have been made to appear to be in contradiction with both the Blueprint’s Comprehensive Implementation Plan and the Code of Maryland Annotated Regulations (COMAR) for Fine Arts...
Public Hearing on the Draft Blueprint Comprehensive Implementation Plan
November 10, 2022
AEMS galvanized a group of arts education advocates from around Maryland to share their testimonies during this public hearing with the Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Board to ensure that the implementation plan included specific language for arts inclusive College and Career Readiness Training.
Address
190 W. Ostend St.
Baltimore, MD
21230
