Coalition Letter: Re: Proposition 28, The Arts and Music In Schools Implementation Concerns

May 6, 2024

The Honorable Gavin Newsom Governor 1021 O Street, Suite 9000 Sacramento, CA 95814	The Honorable Mike McGuire Senate President pro Tempore 1021 O Street, Suite 8518 Sacramento, CA 95814
The Honorable Tony Thurmond State Superintendent of Public Instruction California Department of Education 1430 N Street Sacramento, CA 95814-5901	The Honorable Robert Rivas Speaker of the Assembly 1021 O Street, Suite 8330 Sacramento, CA 95814

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Re: Proposition 28, The Arts and Music In Schools Implementation Concerns

Dear Governor, State Superintendent, Senate President, and Assembly Speaker,

Voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 28, The Arts and Music In Schools— Funding Guarantee And Accountability Act, to supplement (i.e., increase) spending on and access to arts education in every public school. This landmark proposition is a testament to the value California voters place on arts education and its unquestionable impact on the state’s economic development. Prop 28 requires schools to use the funding primarily to hire new arts staff and requires districts to certify that they spent the funds in addition to existing funding for arts education programs. Prop 28 also encourages schools, in collaboration with their stakeholders, to determine how to utilize this funding best to meet the arts education needs of their students. 

We are concerned that some school districts are making decisions without input from their communities and not complying with Prop 28’s supplement requirements by using the funds to replace existing arts education funding. For example, some school districts are encouraging arts education teachers to resign, promising to rehire these teachers using Prop 28 funds. The proposition requires that “at least 80 percent of funds to be expended will be used to employ certificated or classified employees to provide arts education instruction.” Simply put, if a school district is spending Prop 28 funds and has not increased the number of arts teachers it employs, then by definition, it is using the funds to supplant prior spending. 

Some school districts claim that since prior funding sources for arts teachers, school staff, and supplies are one-time, expiring, or zeroed out by the district, they can use Prop 28 funds to replace those funds. That is not correct. Nowhere does Prop 28 say that the source of funds for existing arts programs (federal, state, local, or private) creates any exception to the initiative’s clear and plain language.

However, we firmly believe that with your support, we can rectify this situation and ensure that school districts properly implement the law. As voters intended, proper implementation will provide millions more students access to the arts. 

We urge California leadership to direct school districts to submit to the CDE and make the following information publicly available within 30 days to ensure the proper implementation of Prop 28:

• A certification stating that Prop 28 funds have not been used to supplant any existing spending for arts education at any school.
• A listing of additional arts and music teachers employed by each school district in SY 2023-24, and how that compares to SY 2022-23.
• Prop 28 Expenditure Plans for each school site detailing how funds have been or will be spent.

Prop 28 is a historic opportunity to reverse years of underinvestment in arts education and help provide equitable access to the arts to all of California’s public school students. If school districts are allowed to violate the law, it will maintain the status quo of only the more affluent students having consistent access to the arts and ignore the voters’ wishes. 

Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.

See the letter and signatories (PDF)