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This webinar is being offered for FREE to NDEO Members only.  Not a Member, Join Here.

As we begin 2025 with a new presidential administration and Congress, understanding how national policy changes and shifts within the Department of Education could affect dance education is more important than ever. This 1.5-hour webinar for NDEO members will explore potential changes to education policies, Title funding, and the priorities of the Department of Education—and why educators from all teaching environments should care. 

While all dance educators may feel the ripple effects of federal decisions, those in K-12 public schools, colleges, and universities—who often rely on Department of Education funding—could face the greatest challenges. Gain strategies to access resources to bolster your learning and understanding of the future landscape of dance education at the national, state, and local levels.

As we navigate changes in federal policy and their impact on dance education, NDEO wants to ensure we proactively address your most pressing questions. The current landscape is evolving rapidly, with a flurry of executive orders and Office of Management and Budget memos reshaping policy at an unprecedented pace. Changes are happening daily—sometimes even hourly—making it difficult to keep up with what’s unfolding and how it might affect dance educators. 

We invite you to share your thoughts by completing a brief, anonymous survey to help guide the discussion for our upcoming webinar: .

Nothing in this webinar is to be considered legal advice. All participants are encourage contact their own attorney if they have a legal concern.  

Presenter Bio:

The presenter, Amanda Karhuse, is the Assistant Executive Director for Advocacy and Public Policy at the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). She is on loan to NDEO as part of our affiliation with the Arts Education Alliance. Amanda is NOT an attorney. She is a policy and advocacy expert.  

Amanda Karhuse is the assistant executive director for advocacy and public policy at the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) where she works with policymakers and other national organizations to promote music and the arts as integral and core component of a well-rounded education. In this role, she coordinates all federal and state policy and advocacy efforts for NAfME, which includes lobbying, coalition-building activities, and strengthening the capacity of music education advocates. Amanda leads the Music Education Policy Roundtable, serves as facilitator for the National Coalition for Art Standards, represents NAfME on the board of directors for the Title IV-A Coalition, and co-chairs the Arts Education Partnership Data Working Group. In 2024, Amanda became the lead federal lobbyist for a new partnership between NAfME and the Educational Theatre Association, the National Art Education Association, the National Association for Media Arts Education, and the National Dance Education Organization known as the Arts Education Alliance. Prior to her tenure at NAfME, Amanda was the director of policy & advocacy for the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) where she advocated for issues of national significance to school leaders and led a research initiative on principal turnover and retention. She also represented NASSP as president of the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training and as chair of Advocates for Literacy. Amanda worked for four years on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant for former Congresswoman Karen L. Thurman of Florida and for the Women’s Congressional Policy Institute before embarking on her career in education policy. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA, and a master’s degree from the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Amanda was a proud member of the Yorktown High School band in Arlington, VA; and she now resides in Leesburg, VA, with her husband, an avid guitarist, and her son who sings in the all-district and all-state choirs and performs in the annual school musical.