[Barry Bonzack]

I am going to take a couple of lines out of a December 2013 Wall Street Journal article. These few lines are out of context, please read the whole story to see the WSJ viewpoint, but I am using them to raise a question of my own.

Earlier this year, a handful of members of Congress formed a bipartisan STEAM caucus, with the goal of drafting and passing legislation to incorporate arts into STEM efforts.

This fall, Stanford University began requiring all undergraduates to take two units of "Creative Expression" classes, including design, dance, music, fine arts, drama or creative writing.

"The arts is part of their being—they're singing, they're dancing, they're moving their bodies," Ms. Truglio said. "It became apparent that there are so many science and math lessons as they're using the performing arts."

The push to incorporate arts into STEM comes as some districts see cuts to arts education. An analysis by The Center for Arts Education, a nonprofit and advocacy organization that promotes arts programs in New York City public schools, found that city schools lost 69 art teachers from 2006 through 2012—even though the system grew by 304 schools during that time.

So here is the question I propose: There is a bill in your state legislature to create a $500,000 fund out of tax-payer money. It has been written to support STEM education, which includes after school science programs and clubs for k-12 students. A senator suggests using identical wording for the bill, but making it say STEAM, so that all after school arts programs can also pull from the same pot of funding. Which bill would you support?