By George Slaughter
For the 17th straight year, the Katy Independent School District has received the “Best Communities for Music Education” designation from the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation for the District’s outstanding commitment to music education.
Of the foundation’s 22 years of announcing the recognition, the district has been awarded the designation 19 times total, according to a news release.
The Best Communities for Music Education designation is presented to districts that demonstrate outstanding efforts by school communities in supporting music education as part of the school district’s core curriculum.
The foundation recognized 686 school districts and 80 individual schools.
“The benefits of music education include brain development, social-emotional learning, relationship development, team building and learning a lifelong skill,” Damon Archer, Katy ISD fine arts executive director, said. “Our Katy ISD fine arts educators continually demonstrate outstanding achievement in their efforts to provide quality music experiences and training for all of our students.”
To qualify for the designation, the district answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program, and community music-making programs. School officials, along with The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas, verified and reviewed the responses.