As part of the author's graduate studies in the art education program at the University of New Mexico, he conducted a small research study on issues related to New Mexico's educational policies. His interest was motivated by the lack of attention paid to the policy and legislation that affects the art education field in his state. The author wanted to know more about the policy and legislation that would affect his future career. He began his research with an eighteen-item questionnaire that he sent out to one hundred and twenty art educators in New Mexico. He was guided in his research by different questions and ideas, including what art educators thought about legislation related to art education, whether they understood the importance of that knowledge, and what knowledge art educators had and where they had gained it. The author concluded that if art educators have knowledge about the policy that affects them, then they can have greater power to change it. He learned about the knowledge art educators had and did not have relating to art as a core subject. He found through his questionnaire that less than half of art educators contacted in New Mexico knew that art had been defined as a core subject by federal legislation. Through the research, it is the author's goal to enlighten art educators and university art education programs to the need for knowledge of educational policy. (Contains 15 notes.)