SBO Newsletter

Massachusetts bandleaders are calling a new bill that would give Massachusetts school committees the authority to mandate a procedure for sterilization of school band instruments “a major waste of time and money.”

The bill cleared the Joint Committee on Education in January and will now head to the Healthcare Financing Committee. As a law, school committees be able to mandate that band programs ensure that any musical wind instrument issued to a student be sterilized using a certified product approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and a process established by the state's health department. The bill's opponents claim that the requirements are too costly for school music programs that are already in the midst of a severe budget crunch.

Read more at the Newburyport Current.