This article presents a guiding framework for K-12 arts education. The framework lists four goals for arts education and outlines six areas of teaching practices to support these goals. This framework is presented adjacent to specific political moments, executive orders, and movements from the 2017-2018 political landscape in the United States, which the author describes as challenging to arts education and the development of citizenship. A political landscape serves as a backdrop to the research presented and the framework components. The framework is supported by analysis that outlines aesthetic inquiry as cognition, and aesthetic education as supporting development of empathy and social justice oriented citizenship. The author considers aesthetic and arts education paramount to the development of social justice oriented citizenship, livable and productive lives, and a democratic society. This article provides a guiding framework for educators moving toward these goals.