To start off this special issue on COVID-19 and K-12 arts education, this article places the impact of COVID-19 on public education into context, and drills down to how the pandemic affected the delivery of arts education. The article begins with an overview of the inequities revealed in our public education system by COVID-19. While many of these have been revealed and studied before, the pandemic brought them to the routine attention of the public in a way that earlier advocacy and research efforts have not. The article then addresses how these inequities have influenced the availability and quality of arts education offered during the pandemic, showcasing the continued "second class" status of arts education in public education planning and delivery. Finally, the article ends with some positive outcomes one year into the pandemic for arts education, suggesting possibilities for the future post pandemic, as well as implications and potential warning signs for the next 24 months to come.