Proposition 28, or The Arts and Music in Schools Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act, gives California school districts about $1 billion per year for arts education but advocates said some school districts are having a hard time finding staff and navigating program requirements.
Districts have to spend each year’s funding by the end of the school year or return the money.
Kyle Holmes, director of the Statewide Arts Initiative for California County Superintendents, said the state’s teacher shortage presents a real challenge, especially for small, rural districts.
“If a school district has 500 or more students, 80% of it needs to be used to hire staffing,” Holmes explained. “In smaller districts, there are a lot of folks posting openings for new music teachers and new theater teachers that will sit for six months at a time and not have any applicants, and not be filled.”
Holmes added arts education improves creative thinking and boosts grades in other subjects. More than 2,200 local education agencies are receiving Proposition 28 funding, which is intended to help them hire more staff in dance, media arts, music, theater and visual arts. School districts not wanting to leave money on the table can get help online by using resources available through the County Superintendents, the nonprofit Create CA and the state Department of Education.
Just over half of local education agencies have fewer than 500 students.
Kate Stover, staff development and curriculum specialist of visual, performing and media arts for the Tulare County Office of Education, said one district in Lassen County serves just three students and got $625 in Proposition 28 funds.
“It isn’t always enough to be able to pay for a full-time teacher but there are ways to work with outside partners and to leverage existing resources to really bring more arts for kids,” Stover noted.
The Los Angeles Unified School District gets almost $75 million a year from Proposition 28 to offer arts education to more than 381,000 students.
