On behalf of the undersigned national, state, and local organizations, and in support of tens of millions of students and parents across America, we urge Congress to grant the full, authorized amount of $1.6 billion in Fiscal Year 2026 for the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program known as Title IV-A. This bipartisan, flexible block grant supports investments in well-rounded education programs and the effective use of technology in education throughout the United States, and is authorized under the longstanding, nonpartisan Every Student Succeeds Act.

Robust and consistent funding under Title IV-A helps ensure districts are able to provide a full array of learning opportunities that improve academic progress for all students, a crucial element to our national success in a competitive, global economy. As a formula-based program focused on
locally-determined use of funds, the grant ensures that a broad range of districts throughout the nation continue to have resources they can direct in a manner that best addresses their particular needs. Title IV-A has continuously maintained bipartisan support in part because of the flexibility it affords states and districts to implement programming tailored to their own community’s requirements and priorities.

Our 2024 survey of over 850 unique districts across the nation shows that 85% of district leaders fully endorse the program’s local-control flexibility. To that point, when asked about how districts invested such discretionary funds, districts cited a wide-range of permissible target initiatives, including funding of STEM and computer science programs, career and technical education, music and the arts, International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement courses (IB and AP), physical education, health, professional development for use of educational technology, violence prevention, behavioral responsibility and much more. Survey data also reveals that without increased funding, the expansion of existing programs and creation of new programs would not be possible.

It is noteworthy that Title IV-A is the funding stream that currently sustains many of the activities districts had previously been using limited Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) dollars to support. With ESSER emergency funds often fully expended and inflationary pressures persisting, districts are looking for alternatives to continue investing in programs that have demonstrably made a difference in closing achievement gaps, including intensive academic tutoring, afterschool and summer enrichment programs, and mentoring for at-risk students. When asked about whether districts would have to scale back these programs without greater assistance, hundreds of districts responded that such service cuts seem inevitable without full Title IV-A funding.

In sum, Federal investment under Title IV-A is absolutely essential to providing access to the kind of well-rounded education necessary for American students to thrive in a modern society and workforce. For these reasons, we urge Congress to continue its bipartisan investment in the Title IV-A program by funding it at its fully authorized level of $1.6 billion in FY 2026. Furthermore, we urge Congress to take an active role in ensuring that this funding is timely disbursed by the US Government to recipients with fidelity and adherence to the laws which Congress has passed.

Thank you for your consideration of this request. We look forward to working with you to ensure these investments continue to support districts, educators, and students in a manner tailored to their individualized needs.

THE NATIONAL MUSIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES
The National Music Council of the United States is celebrating its 82nd year as a forum for the free discussion of the nation’s national music affairs and challenges. Founded in 1940 to act as a clearinghouse for the joint opinion and decision of its members and to work to strengthen the importance of music in our lives and culture, the Council’s initial membership of 13 has grown to almost 50 national music organizations, encompassing every important form of professional and commercial musical activity. Through the cooperative work of its member organizations, the National Music Council promotes and supports music and music education as an integral part of the curricula in the schools of our nation, and in the lives of its citizens. The Council provides for the exchange of information and coordination of efforts among its member organizations, and speaks with one voice for the music community whenever an authoritative expression of opinion is desirable. www.musiccouncil.org

Sincerely,
The Board of Directors
National Music Council of the United States

July 8, 2024, NEW YORK CITY–The National Music Council of the United States (NMC) has issued an educational, legislative-based statement outlining the general consensus views of the American music creators, copyright owners and educators that constitute its broad membership, concerning both the opportunities and the existential dangers posed by the rapid introduction of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems throughout the U.S. and global music communities.

With billions of dollars and the future of American musical culture at stake, NMC states that it is seeking to provide the basis through the attached statement for a more informed and far-reaching dialogue among creators, copyright owners, business leaders, technologists, legislators, students, educators and members of the public regarding the need for measured legislative action and governmental oversight to ensure fairness and equity in the GenAI marketplace.

According to NMC Chair Charles J. Sanders, “GenAI has the capacity – using pre-existing copyrighted works to produce new derivatives – to enhance human musical expression and public enjoyment of the musical arts through fairness in voluntary licensing, or to cause long standing, crushing and potentially irreparable damage to musical creativity, commerce and culture.  Our goal is to support the best possible legislative outcomes for our organizational members and their constituencies, leading to ever-increasing advancement of human-centric musical excellence, progress, equity and cultural preservation around the world.”  NMC President Dr. James Weaver adds “the issues covered in the document include the general principles of consent, credit, fair compensation, disclosure, record keeping, and a necessarily narrow application of any exceptions to infringement, limited to only certain, non-commercial exemptions in the area of education.”

Dr. David Sanders, NMC’s Executive Director, expressed his hope that the statement will help facilitate rapid, legislative progress toward protecting the rights of creators, copyright administrators and educators through cooperative discussion. “Our paper is intended as an educational primer designed to demonstrate both support of our membership for AI technology in general, but insistence in the context of GenAI on respect for the legal rights of the creative community – and for the principles of diversity, equity and inclusiveness which our community considers very high priorities.”

NMC is the Congressionally-chartered, educational umbrella organization for the broad spectrum of US music community advocacy groups.  Founded in 1940, NMC’s membership is today comprised of almost fifty leading American trade organizations representing four distinct categories of music community interests: those of music creators; musical artists & performers; music copyright owners & administrators; and, music educators.  In all cases and on every issue, each member organization explicitly retains the authority to speak independently on its own behalf, regardless of whether the views it expresses differ from those of NMC and/or other NMC members.  Click here to read the GEN AI statement.  For more information on NMC, please visit musiccouncil.org.

The National Music Council of the United States, along with its music community colleagues, is extremely gratified that its efforts to curb the illegitimate expansion of the fair use doctrine in various foreign nations during the global pandemic have met with success! The United States Trade Representative and the Biden Administration has heard our voices, and responded by ensuring that while massive global efforts to fight COVID-19 must and will continue unabated and at full speed, those actions cannot be permitted to lead to the gutting of global copyright protections for no valid reason.

Final wording of the joint agreement, which further delineates Covid-19 exemptions to the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), are still being worked out. The Trips Agreement establishes minimum standards of protection that each government has to give to the IP of fellow WTO members. The new agreement will continue to narrowly define Covid-based, fair-use exemptions for unauthorized copyright uses, consistent with the strict, general limits currently in place.