In April 2014, New York City Comptroller Scott Springer released the report, “State of the Arts: A Plan to Boost Arts Education in New York City,” which revealed unequal access to arts education for children living in New York City’s lowest income communities. It also revealed violations of the state’s mandates for the number of middle and high school arts teachers employed in New York City schools. To help address these issues, New York’s Department of Education (DOE) received $23 million in additional funding in its 2015 budget to help support new arts teachers, programs, and facilities.

Earlier this month, New York State Controller Thomas P. DiNapoli released a report which showed that 95% of surveyed 2014 New York City high school graduates completed mandatory arts lessons—a 50% increase from students surveyed in a 2011 audit. City officials noted that they have improved their tracking of student data in arts instruction. In addition, the DOE implemented new training for teachers like Art Mondays, a monthly program providing teachers training in dance, music theater and visual art.

Looking forward, New York City Mayor de Blasio plans to focus on improving arts education standards so that “every city kid an arts education that meets state standards.”