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To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to expand access to school-wide arts and music programs, and for other purposes.
Summary
The bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to require that school-wide programs include sequential, standards-based arts education and music education taught by certified educators. Arts education must include dance, media arts, theater, and visual arts and can be taught by both certified arts educators and community arts providers, while music education must be taught by certified music educators. For schools that have not met adequate academic progress (targeted assistance schools), the bill adds programmatic assistance for arts and music programs designed to address student academic needs. This assistance includes support for hiring certified arts and music educators, providing professional development, purchasing instruments, sheet music, technology, supplies, and other expenses related to arts and music instruction. The bill expands the definition of well-rounded education to explicitly include arts and music education at both school-wide and targeted assistance school levels.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
3 cosponsors
- Sen. Hickenlooper, John W. [D-CO] (D-CO)
- Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Cory A. Booker’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $92,425
- PRIME HEALTHCARE $19,800
- APOLLO $15,800
- LOWENSTEIN SANDLER LLP $15,700
- HARVARD UNIVERSITY $14,100
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Cory A. Booker → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Mar 5, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
- Mar 5, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 5, 2026
Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Lujan, and Mr. Padilla) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to expand access to school-wide arts and music programs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Guarantee Access to Arts and Music Education Act of 2026” or the “GAAME Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. SCHOOL-WIDE ACCESS TO ARTS EDUCATION.
Section 1114(b)(7)(A)(iii) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6314(b)(7)(A)(iii)) is amended—
(1) in subclause (IV) and (V), by striking “; and” and inserting a semicolon; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(VI) sequential, standards-based arts education (which may include dance, media arts, theater, and visual arts) taught by certified arts educators (as defined by the State) and community arts providers to meet the challenging State academic standards; and”.
SEC. 3. SCHOOL-WIDE ACCESS TO MUSIC EDUCATION.
Section 1114(b)(7)(A)(iii) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6314(b)(7)(A)(iii)), as amended by section (2), is further amended by inserting after subclause (VI) the following:
“(VII) sequential, standards-based music education that is aligned to challenging State academic standards and is taught by certified music educators (as defined by the State); and”.
SEC. 4. TARGETED ASSISTANCE SCHOOLS FOR ARTS EDUCATION.
Section 1115 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6315) is amended—
(1) in subsection (b)(2)(A), by striking “well-rounded education;” inserting the following: “well rounded education, such as—
“(i) programmatic assistance for students to participate in arts programs that address their academic needs (including support for certified arts educators (as defined by the State), arts educator professional development, supplies, and other expenses associated with instruction in the arts); and”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(i) Definition of Arts.—For purposes of subsection (b)(2)(A)(i), the term ‘arts’ means dance, media arts, theater, and visual arts.”.
SEC. 5. TARGETED ASSISTANCE SCHOOLS FOR MUSIC EDUCATION.
Section 1115(b)(2)(A) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6315(b)(2)(A)), as amended by section 4, is further amended by adding at the end the following:
“(ii) programmatic assistance for students to participate in music programs that address their academic needs (including support for certified music educators, music educator professional development, instruments, sheet music, music technology, and other expenses associated with music instruction);”. <all>
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