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Three years after voters passed an ambitious arts education funding measure, California’s K-12 schools were supposed to be awash in dance, music, theater and fine arts. But some schools are returning their arts money to the state, saying the rules on how to spend it are too vague and they can’t find enough arts teachers.
“The sad thing is, this means that thousands of kids aren’t getting art,” said Austin Beutner, the former superintendent of Los Angeles Unified who wrote Proposition 28. “We thought Prop. 28 was clear.”
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Prop. 28, which voters overwhelmingly approved in 2022, sets aside about $1 billion a year for the arts in California public schools.
Schools with more low-income students get more money, but otherwise funding is based on enrollment. Los Angeles Unified, with about 400,000 students, got about $72 million last year, while Death Valley Unified, with 21 students, got about $2,000.
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