Election results: California voters approve Prop. 28, providing funds for arts education

California voters approved Proposition 28 to provide more funding for arts and

music education in public schools. With 49% of precincts partially reporting Tuesday, Prop. 28 was passing 63% to 37%.

The measure did not draw any organized opposition.

Prop. 28 will annually allocate 1% of the required state and local funding for public schools to additional funding for arts and music education in all kindergarten through 12th-grade public schools, including charter schools.

That’s estimated to be up to a $1 billion set aside each year.

"Arts are the glue which brings together literacy, math and critical-thinking skills to help students succeed in school and in life,'' said Austin Beutner, the former Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent who wrote the measure. "Prop. 28 will make sure every student from pre-school to 12th grade will have the opportunity to participate in arts and music at school.''

Beutner called the passage of Proposition 28 'a big step forward for public education."

"It's the first guaranteed increase in funding for California public schools since Prop. 98 was passed by voters 34 years ago," Beutner said. "More broadly, Prop. 28 will provide for the largest investment in arts and music in our nation's history."

The measure would not raise taxes, so the additional money will have to come from elsewhere in the state’s general fund. Proponents say the state’s recent surplus should cover the cost. Schools with high proportions of students from low-income households will get more funding. Schools with 500 or more students will be required to spend 80% of the new funding on hiring arts and music instructors, and they will have to publish annual reports on how they spend the money.

Why was it on the ballot?

State law requires instruction in visual and performing arts for grades 1-6. For grades 7-8, schools must offer arts classes either during or after school. High school students must take either a year of art, a foreign language or career and technical education to graduate. But most California high schools require students to take art to align with the admissions requirements for the California State University and University of California systems.

But when school district budgets are cut during economic downturns, arts and music programs are often the first to be downsized. Beutner said he launched the Prop. 28 campaign to turn the arts into a core subject along with math, science and reading.

He said the push for more arts education was inspired by conversations he had with educators during his time leading the state’s largest school district. Citing a 2021 study by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Beutner said giving students the space to express themselves creatively leads to a sense of belonging, which in turn helps them in math and reading.

“Math has rules. Grammar has rules. Art is unbounded,” Beutner said. “And if you think about preparing students for critical thinking, art isn’t just the sprinkles on an ice cream sundae. It’s an essential piece.”

Beutner also called Proposition 28 "a passion project for me.''

"My family moved a number of times when I was young, and I attended several different elementary schools,'' Beutner told City News Service. "As a shy kid entering a new fifth-grade classroom in the middle of a school year, my concern was not reading or math. It was who I was going to have lunch with my first day at school since I didn't know anyone.

"Fortunately, a teacher invited me to a lunchtime music class. Cello became bass and then guitar. Along with it came a sense of agency and confidence. I could play in front of thousands of people before I could speak in front of tens. But it all started with a group of friends and a sense of belonging that I found in that fifth grade music class.''

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Star backing

Beutner, who donated more than $4 million to the campaign, and other supporters also say that arts and music instruction could help address the mental health crisis facing California’s youth as they recover from the pandemic.

Along with Beutner, supporters included Sylvester Stallone and other Hollywood stars and musicians such as Anderson .Paak and Barbara Streisand. Prop. 28 also had strong support from teachers unions, as the arts funding is expected to generate jobs for educators.

Fender Musical Instruments donated more than $1 million to the campaign. Fender CEO Andy Mooney said the company has donated more than 10,000 guitars to Los Angeles Unified and hopes Prop. 28 will allow Fender to donate instruments to other districts.

But critics, including some newspaper editorial boards, called it “ballot box budgeting” that locks in even more spending for schools and that could force cuts to other important state programs in the next recession.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Election results: Prop. 28 approved, more funds for arts education