School districts must follow the law on Prop. 28 and expand arts and music access

Millions of California’s children will be robbed of new opportunities for learning and continue missing out on the benefits of an arts education.

Voters passed Proposition 28 to ensure that every student has the opportunity to participate in arts and music at school. About 7 million people voted in favor of the 2022 initiative, almost 65% of the electorate, with the most significant margin of victory for an education measure in California’s history.

The ballot measure addresses the sad fact that barely one in five public schools in California has a full-time arts or music teacher. It provides additional funds for every school to add arts teachers and aides; school districts cannot use these new funds to replace spending for existing school programs. A comprehensive report, Art for Life’s Sake, by The American Academy of Arts and Sciences makes a compelling case for arts education in schools.

Unfortunately, not all students are being provided the arts education voters promised.

The good news is some school districts are doing what the law prescribes. They are adding staff to provide more opportunities for every student in every school to participate in arts and music. The bad news is other school districts are willfully violating the law against the best interest of students by using the new funds to replace spending on existing programs and, as a result, have not added any arts teachers. This practice contradicts the entire purpose of the proposition and is more than just a “budget” issue.

If one school district was providing students with meals while another was not, there would be a big outcry. Why not for arts education, especially when the benefits are well known? For example, research tells us that participation in the arts helps students recover from trauma, make social connections, and increase attendance. The absence of this mental health support is life changing for some children.

Let’s compare what good looks like in Long Beach schools to what bad looks like in Los Angeles. After the law passed, Long Beach school district leadership provided information to schools in early 2023 (before Prop. 28 took effect) about the additional funding they would receive for arts education beginning in the 2023-24 school year. Then, they started hiring. As a result, more than 150 additional arts teachers and aides are now working with students in Long Beach schools.

On the other hand, Los Angeles Unified seems to have set out to break the law from day one.  In early 2023, the district told schools it was cutting funding for many existing arts teaching jobs. If schools wanted to keep their arts teacher, they would have to use Prop. 28 funds. That’s a clear violation of the law. The net result is that there are no additional arts teachers in LAUSD schools.

Further, it seems LAUSD is covering up its misuse of Prop. 28 funds by claiming its total spending on arts education has increased. LAUSD is counting into that total spending figure separate state funds intended for extended learning opportunities to help students recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The district is using these funds for what they call a Cultural Arts Passport for various extracurricular activities, including visits to the San Diego Zoo and Clippers games.

We have nothing against field trips, but it’s not arts education. Prop. 28 requires that 80% of funds be spent on hiring additional arts teachers and aides. Unless Kawhi Leonard has earned a teaching credential and is being paid by LAUSD to work in a school classroom, there’s no chance activities like these are a proper use of Prop. 28 funds.

LAUSD says it spent about $75 million on arts education in school year 2022-34 and $130 million in 2023-24. In reality, all they’ve done is shuffle money around to unlawfully replace the previous year’s $75 million with Prop. 28 funds and then add other monies like the Cultural Arts Passport funds to give the appearance of a bigger number.

Are you thoroughly confused by all of this? That’s the point. LAUSD is trying to distract you from the fact that the district is shortchanging students and has made no meaningful increase in arts education in its schools. If Long Beach has added 150 arts teachers, there should be about 1,000 more at schools across LAUSD. Where are they?

We are speaking up about this injustice because students, their families, and school workers are being silenced by district leadership. The kids harmed by this and their families, almost all from underserved communities of color, are not being told the truth. School staff in LAUSD are aware of the law-breaking but fear retaliation from LAUSD top brass if they say anything publicly.

Prop. 28 is the largest investment in arts and music in our nation’s history and would establish California as a national leader, but only if properly implemented. If school districts are allowed to violate the law without consequence by cutting their current programs and merely using these new funds to substitute what already exists, their actions will make a mockery of voters’ clear wishes.

Millions of California’s children will be robbed of new opportunities for learning and continue missing out on the benefits of an arts education.

Max Arias is president of SEIU 99. Austin Beutner is author of Proposition 28. Cecily Myart-Cruz is president of UTLA.