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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: March 10, 2005
Contact: Sherry Freeland Walker
e-mail:
Phone: 303.299.3626 Fax: 303.296.8332
ECS Web Site:
/ ECS Chairman To Name Arts Education Commission; Be Honored at D.C. Reception
DENVER – Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, 2004-06 chairman of the Education Commission of the States (ECS), next week will be honored for his leadership in arts education at a Capitol Hill reception, where he also will announce the makeup of his new Governor’s Commission on the Arts in Education.
The announcement and reception will take place Monday, March 14, from 4:30-6 p.m. in Room SR-325 of the Russell Senate Office Building.
The commission will serve as the advisory body for Huckabee’s ECS chairman’s initiative, The Arts – A Lifetime of Learning. The governor will chair the commission, which comprises state leaders involved in ECS and the arts community. The group’s first meeting will be Wednesday, April 6, during the ECS Spring Steering Committee meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas.
“I’m very pleased to have these distinguished members serving with me on the Arts Commission,” Huckabee said. “Their passion and involvement in ensuring young people have exposure to and experience in the arts will ensure we meet the goal of my ECS initiative – to give every student the opportunity to participate in, learn about and enjoy the arts. Their work over the next year will result in recommendations on how to keep the arts strong in schools.”
The initiative is designed to mobilize state policymakers to ensure students have access to high-quality arts education. It focuses on four areas making up “ARTS”: awareness, research, tools and state leadership.
Research has shown that students who study the arts improve their achievement in other subjects, including mathematics, reading and writing. They also earn better grades, perform better on exams, take part in more community service and watch fewer hours of television.
For more information on Huckabee’s ECS chairman’s initiative and on arts in education, see
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The Education Commission of the States (ECS) is a national, nonprofit organization that helps governors, legislators, state education officials and others identify, develop and implement public policies to improve student learning at all levels. A nonpartisan organization, ECS was formed in 1965 and is located in Denver, Colorado.
Helping State Leaders Shape Education Policy

GOVERNOR’S COMMISSION ON THE ARTS IN EDUCATION

Education Commission of the States 2004-06 Chairman’s Initiative –

The Arts – A Lifetime of Learning

Members include:

  • Mike Huckabee, governor of Arkansas, 2004-06 ECS chairman; commission chairman
  • Milton Goldberg, ECS consultant and former executive vice president, National Alliance of Business; commission vice chairman
  • JoanAbrahamson, president, The Jefferson Institute
  • RoderickChu, chancellor, Ohio Board of Regents
  • RichardDeasy, director, Arts Education Partnership
  • DaleFranzen, director, Santa Monica College Madison Project
  • SandyGarrett, state superintendent of education, Oklahoma; ECS treasurer
  • DougHerbert, special assistant, Office of the Secretary, U. S. Department of Education
  • Sharon Lynn Kagan, associate dean for policy, Teachers College
  • JaneNorton, lieutenant governor, Colorado
  • Sir KenRobinson, senior advisor, education, J. Paul Getty Trust
  • DavidSokola, chairman, Senate Education Committee, Delaware; ECS vice chairman

Ex officio member:

  • Piedad R. Robertson, president, ECS

Education Commission of the States 700 Broadway, Suite 1200 Denver, CO 80203-3460 303.299.3600 Fax: 303.296.8332
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