California schools will soon get $1 billion for arts and music. Are they ready to use it?

Whether districts are ready or not, this February, nearly $1 billion will be dispersed across California’s classrooms -- and schools will need to figure out how to spend it on arts and music education.

Bright and early one recent morning, Jessica Sheldon stood before a crowd of third graders in Sunnyvale. She was playing a ukulele as a microphone hung from her ear — and she was coaching the kids to dance.

“Right, left, right, together,” Sheldon chanted, as the students hopped across the floor.

Some were giggling, looking to one another for help; others had their faces set in concentration, and their eyes on Sheldon’s movements. Some students, like 8-year-old Riya Mane, wished it didn’t have to end.

“It energizes our body, and I liked that song a lot,” said Riya, a third grader at Cupertino Union’s Stocklmeir Elementary. “It’s just really fun.”

For Riya, Sheldon’s class was her favorite way to start the day. But for lawmakers across the state, it represents the fulfillment of Proposition 28, legislation that will soon bring nearly $1 billion a year for arts and music to California’s schools.

While some districts — like Cupertino Union and San Francisco Unified — began hiring new teachers like Sheldon this year, others are still scrambling to choose the programs they’ll provide. But whether districts are ready or not, the windfall will be disbursed across California’s classrooms this February and schools will need to figure out how to spend it.

“If 6 million kids, right now, have the opportunity to participate in arts and music in school, every school that hasn’t hired a new arts or music teacher means kids are being left behind,” said Austin Beutner, author of Prop 28 and a former superintendent at the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Last November, California voters overwhelmingly approved the proposition, which led to a new, ongoing state funding stream to support programs such as dance, music, theater, painting, photography, animation, film, and more. Those offerings are meant to be decided by school communities themselves, and staffed by either credentialed, certificated or classified staff members.

But there are complexities to bringing $1 billion into classrooms — and restoring programs that have often been the ones to go when money is short. First, there’s hiring amid an extreme teacher shortage. Then, there’s the odd timing of the funding starting halfway through the school year.

“This will be a seismic shift in terms of what arts learning can look like in schools,” said Dominique Enriquez, the executive director of the Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area, an organization supporting districts with their planning. “For many, this is an investment time — and a time to figure out sustained funding for years to come.”

Preliminary estimates show that educational institutions will receive about $112 per student, plus an additional $85 for every economically disadvantaged student. Every year, schools will have three years to spend each round of money, with 80% of the funding going toward staff salaries and 20% for materials, training supplies, curriculum, and other necessities.

Cupertino Union is far ahead of the curve. In the fall, the California Department of Education released each school’s estimated funding amounts through Prop 28, and the district shuffled money around to hire four new music teachers at the start of this year. Others, like Dublin Unified, are still in the early planning stages.

Jefferson Union and San Jose Unified are collecting input from parents, students and community members to help guide the process. Mt. Diablo Unified sent a survey to 36,000 parents in English, Spanish and Farsi, asking them to rank the type of art program they’d like to see expanded (band versus theater, for example), and soliciting other ideas for each category.

“Some school districts have said, ‘we know the money’s coming, so let’s get going,’” said Beutner. “But there are very different levels of awareness among districts, and very different amounts of progress in terms of a plan or a pathway.”

One of the biggest challenges, districts say, is hiring. Prop 28 is expected to fund 15,000 new arts and music teachers in California, but during the 2021-22 academic year, just under 800 educators received a traditional teaching credential in arts, music, theater or dance, according to data from the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

“We are in a massive teacher shortage, and 15,000 (openings) across the state of California is going to make hiring incredibly competitive,” said Fillmore Rydeen, the head of visual and performing arts at Oakland Unified School District. “This whole thing is really going to stretch the human, artistic teaching capital that we need, and that’s going to be a challenge.”

Bruce Rockwell, who’s taught choir, guitar and piano at Mt. Diablo Unified’s College Park High for the last 14 years, agreed.

“We’re all sort of scrambling, and saying: ‘Who’s graduating? Come get a job with us!'” Rockwell said. “We’ve built these great plans, but they depend on us hiring people to fill those positions.”

The gap may force districts to look outside the box for teachers who might not have previously considered the classroom. That’s the hope of Schoolgig, a new platform created to connect musicians, artists and performers to public schools throughout the state. Today, 20 districts — including San Francisco Unified, Cabrillo Unified, and West Contra Costa Unified — have signed up in the hopes that they’ll be able to pull in new teachers from outside the traditional hiring orbits.

That includes artists, musicians and dancers who haven’t taught before, but could become qualified to do so through California’s career technical education (CTE) pathway. With three years of work experience, a high school diploma, and verification by a Commission on Teacher Credentialing-approved sponsor (among a few other qualifications) prospective teachers can earn a “preliminary credential” valid for three years, and additional credentials thereafter.

“Maybe you’re a drummer, a painter, a choreographer, whatever it is, and you’re like, wow. I don’t want to be touring anymore,” said Elmo Lovano, who founded Schoolgig soon after Prop 28 was passed. “I feel like the art community is actually going to embrace this more than people will expect.”

Ten years ago, Stocklmeir’s Jessica Sheldon was a professional piano accompanist and a private music teacher. But over time, Sheldon realized she preferred the collaborative nature of working with students.

“There are a lot of people out there who really love teaching music,” said Sheldon, who joined Cupertino Union this academic year. “I’m hopeful there will also be more people like me.”

If districts can pull that off, it will mean a sea change in the world of California arts education. For years, budget cuts have led districts to drop music and arts educators from the classroom — and today, only 1-in 5 California public schools have a teacher dedicated to the arts. In many schools, parents’ groups and education foundations have picked up the tab for their children’s arts programs.

Debbie Petish, the executive director of curriculum and instruction at the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, said most art supplies are donated by the community. But this year, schools were able to use Prop 28 funding, supplying everything from sheet music to pottery wheels.

“We’re really grateful to have the money focused on visual and performing arts,” said Petish. “But it has been a little bit challenging with regards to understanding all the nuances, and we’re still trying to piece all of that together to provide the most accurate guidance for our principles.”

Across the Bay Area, school districts said that guidance from the state has been lacking. And with so much money coming in, principals, administrators and school boards are anxious about getting it right, especially after waiting years for such funding.

“There can be some pent-up frustrations after not having adequate funding for all our needs,” said Chovonta Edington, the band and orchestra teacher who has been leading the Prop 28 planning for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. “Now we have access to this money, and everyone’s like, ‘let’s go, now!’ But we want to make sure that we do this properly.”