In 2022, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 28, based on the promise that 1 billion dollars would be secured and provided to arts and music education in public schools across the state.
While many districts have opened new music programs, art classes and performances, former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner says the LAUSD has failed to use the funding as voters intended.
“LA Unified may have thought they were above the law and wanted to use the money for something else,” Beutner said. “Every school is supposed to use the money to hire teachers and provide arts classes at that school.”
That dispute has led Beutner to sue the LAUSD, alleging the district improperly used Prop 28 money for purposes other than expanding arts education at individual schools.
“The arts matter,” Beutner said. “They matter particularly for kids.”
Prop 28 provides dedicated funding for arts and music instruction in California public schools. Beutner says the law requires schools to use much of that money to hire additional educators and provide arts instruction that would not otherwise have been available.
The LAUSD has maintained in court that it has complied with the law.
Some district students, however, say they haven’t seen the level of investment they expected.
“As a student, I would expect LAUSD to offer the art supplies instead of having art teachers use their own money or asking for donations from the community,” said 16-year-old LAUSD student Emma-Lee Del Hierro.
Noah Martinez, 13, said he hopes more opportunities will be available as he gets older.
“I’m definitely looking forward to being in high school and having art as a class,” Martinez said.
Beutner points to research showing participation in arts and music education can improve student engagement and academic performance. He has continued advocating for Prop 28 amid a profound personal loss.
In January, Beutner’s 22-year-old daughter, Emily, a student at Loyola Marymount University, died of a drug overdose.
Superintendent Andrés E. Chait also spoke on students and the lack of participation and programs. “About 20 percent of the kids that live in L.A. don’t go to our schools. Now that may be for any number of reasons, choices that parents make, and so on. Part of my charge, part of my responsibility, is to make our district all the more appealing to those families to try to bring some of those folks either into our system for the first time, or in many cases, back into our schools,” Chait explained.
