; Whereas African-American students scored the lowest of all ethnicities in the most recent National Assessment for Educational Progress arts assessment; Whereas students who are eligible for the school lunch program established under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) have significantly lower scores on the music portion of the National Assessment for Educational Progress arts assessment than students that are ineligible for that program, which suggests that students in low-income families are disadvantaged in the subject of music; Whereas a recent study showed that nearly 2/3 of music ensemble students were Caucasian and middle class and only 15 percent were African American; Whereas the same study found that only 7 percent of music teacher licensure candidates were African American; and Whereas minority students face many barriers to accessing musical training, especially students in large urban public schools: Now, therefore, be it