The Advocacy Committee began work on a new advocacy website for KMEA. The focus is to provide information directly related to the needs and context of Kansas school music programs. The various topics that will be included are: current issues facing music programs in our state; links for interactive communication between teachers to share advocacy strategies; guidance to FAQ that can advise teachers addressing challenges such as budget/position losses; suggestions for using external supporters such as music stores and local leaders; guidance on documenting the quality of and impact on student learning; and talking points for public announcements.

Our other goal for the coming year will be to report earlier findings from our surveys on Job Satisfaction and Music Teacher Recruitment in our state. We will continue to monitor changes in satisfaction, job-related stress, work-load, perceptions of student achievement, and feelings about teaching through a survey in the Fall as well as re-administering the Impact of Budget Cuts on Kansas Music Programs survey, due to the current legislative decisions. Be watching for these two surveys. The more we can identify about the current of music education in our state, the better we can design advocacy measures to assist music teachers.