Access to music education in American schools is not guaranteed. Although national studies have demonstrated disparities based on poverty, race, and other markers, these studies miss a necessary level of local detail in describing access. Additionally, studies that exist are based on self-report surveys and prone to nonresponse bias. The purpose of this study was to describe access to music education at the state level. Using Michigan administrative data provided by the state department of education, we describe the state’s population of music educators and examine student access to music education. We found that music teachers differed from nonmusic teachers in a number of ways. We also identified substantial and persistent disparities in access to music education across the state. These findings have important implications for school arts education policy.

不保证在美国学校接受音乐教育。尽管国家研究已经证明了基于贫困，种族和其他因素的差异，但这些研究在描述获取信息时却缺少必要的局部细节。此外，现有的研究是基于自我报告调查的，并且容易出现无应答偏差。这项研究的目的是描述州一级接受音乐教育的途径。使用州教育局提供的密歇根州行政数据，我们描述了该州的音乐教育者人数，并研究了学生获得音乐教育的机会。我们发现音乐老师在许多方面与非音乐老师有所不同。我们还发现全州在获得音乐教育方面存在巨大且持续的差距。