Attention California music products manufacturers and retailers: California music and arts education funding is in motion! $105 million in funding for California visual and performing arts education passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2006 is now being distributed to public schools throughout the state.  Additional one-time funds totaling $500 million are also available for music, art and physical education materials and equipment. To date, $78,750,938 has been allocated to California schools to support the Arts and Music Block Grant.

According to Mary Luehrsen, director of public affairs and government relations at NAMM, music product retailers who have relationships with California schools should work with their communities and schools to apply for the funding now to go toward supporting their local school-based music programs.

According to the California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE), the funding will offer each and every district equal funding based on a per pupil allocation formula. The funding, being distributed through the California Department of Education (CDE), is intended to give individual districts the flexibility to improve their arts education programs by supporting the professional development of teachers and administrators, the purchase of instructional materials, the creation or evaluation of local arts education plans, or the hiring of new staff.

NAMM and its California-based Members, working closely with a coalition of partners and interested organizations and led by CAAE, mobilized extensive public support during the past year on behalf of the proposed state budget. NAMM continues its work to benefit music education nationwide through SupportMusic.com, its Web resource for concerned parents and advocates in communities across the country. For more information, visit namm.org or SupportMusic.com.

For more information about CAAE, go to www.artsed411.org. For  information about the Music and Arts Grant funding profile, go to www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/profile.asp?id+953. To see a list of counties, schools and the amounts that have been distributed from the first allocation of more than $78 million, go to www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r14/artmusic06result.asp and click on "Schedule." NAMM will continue to provide updates on future allocations of funds.