California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 28 in 2022 with a promise: provide nearly $1 billion annually for arts and music education in public schools across the state.<\/p>\n
In many districts, the money has translated into new music programs, arts classes and performances. But the measure\u2019s author \u2014 businessman, philanthropist and former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner \u2014 says the LAUSD has failed to use the funding as voters intended.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arts matter,\u201d Beutner said. \u201cThey matter particularly for kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cLA Unified may have thought they were above the law and wanted to use the money for something else,\u201d Beutner said. \u201cEvery school is supposed to use the money to hire teachers and provide arts classes at that school.\u201d<\/p>\n
The LAUSD has maintained in court that it has complied with the law.<\/p>\n
Some district students, however, say they have yet to see the level of investment they expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs 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,\u201d said 16-year-old LAUSD student Emma-Lee Del Hierro.<\/p>\n
Noah Martinez, 13, said he hopes more opportunities will be available as he gets older.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely looking forward to being in high school and having art as a class,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In January, Beutner\u2019s 22-year-old daughter, Emily, a student at Loyola Marymount University, died of a drug overdose.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur lives have changed,\u201d Beutner said. \u201cAs a family, we are there for each other. We are trying to keep our lives, a sense of purpose and find joy. But I\u2019d be misleading if I said, \u2018Here I am today, and it\u2019s not part of me every day.\u2019 It is. It just is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beutner said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who also lost a daughter as a young adult, spoke with him about grief.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said you become a member of a club you don\u2019t want to be a member of,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
His daughter had wanted to become an art teacher, Beutner said, giving his advocacy for arts education an added personal meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wanted to be an art teacher,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe there is a little bit of her in me with Prop 28.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 28 in 2022 with a promise: provide nearly $1 billion annually for arts…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1012159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,72161,224,5337],"class_list":["post-1012158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-la","tag-lausd","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117125988105117928","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1012158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1012159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1012158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1012158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1012158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}