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Arts educators seek to be part of state standards

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December 14th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Fine arts advocates in Iowa are renewing an effort to get music, drama and art included in state education standards. The Iowa Alliance for Arts Education will lobby lawmakers again next year to amend the Iowa Core to add the fine arts. Leon Kuehner, the group’s executive director, says a similar attempt failed in 2014, but he and others hope they will have more luck this time.

State law dictates that schools teach the arts, but the fine arts are not listed in the Iowa Core, which was established in schools statewide in 2008 after approval from the Legislature and the governor. Democrats who control the Iowa Senate have been supportive of this effort, but it is not clear there is interest in the Republican-dominated House.