An alliance that includes unions, parents and the former Los Angeles schools superintendent. Austin Beutner has accused Los Angeles Unified of violating a voter-approved state law designed to increase spending on arts instruction and is calling on the Board of Education to reject an internal report that sanctions the school's handling of funds. district.
In a 10-page analysis submitted Tuesday morning to the Board of Education, Beutner's coalition, which includes labor representatives for most district employees, documented alleged improper spending at 14 schools and suggested that its investigation represents a small sample of what they believe is widespread misuse of arts funding.
At stake is $77 million in state funds allocated to the district thanks to voter-approved Proposition 28, which requires schools to use their share of the money to increase arts instruction.
The alliance accuses the district of using the new arts money to replace existing funding for arts instruction. The result, they argue, is that the district saves money for other purposes without increasing arts instruction in each school as much as the law requires.
“LAUSD has chosen to violate both the letter and the spirit of the law and students are suffering as a result,” the coalition’s analysis states. “Knowingly violating the law is wrong. Beyond that, it is morally failing for district leaders to tell some families, 'Yes, Proposition 28 gives us the money to give your child an arts education, but we're not going to do it.'”
District officials have denied any wrongdoing. They said overall spending for arts education has increased even beyond the dollars provided through Proposition 28.
LAUSD officials are relying on an interpretation of state law that differs markedly from that of Beutner, the author of Proposition 28. Beutner says spending on arts education must increase in all schools in the district. The district says its compliance with Proposition 28 relies on increased arts spending systemwide. What counts as art instruction is also in dispute.
“While school-level funding may vary, on average, our schools saw an increase of $82,000 in their total arts budget from the previous school year,” according to the district staff report prepared for Tuesday's meeting. “Proposition 28 stipulates that funds will be used to increase funding for arts education programs within school districts. While this may differ from school to school, the law evaluates overall expenditures and investments at the district level.”
State officials have not intervened the dispute, focusing instead on helping school systems understand the rules.
In their letter, coalition members admonished the Board of Education:
“Teachers, school staff and families have repeatedly shared their concerns. … In the absence of adequate and transparent discussion by the Board, we are forced to remind them of what the law requires and compare it to what is actually happening in the schools.”
District administrators included a warning of their own in the legally required report: “If the Board of Education does not approve this annual report, Proposition 28 funds may be delayed or withheld for the 2024-2025 school year.”
Beutner's coalition includes the leaders of the school system's two largest unions: United Teachers Los Angeles and Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents the largest number of non-teaching workers, including bus drivers, custodians, laborers of cafeterias and teacher assistants. Teamsters Local 572 and the California School Employees Association also signed. Chapter 500.
Under Proposition 28, each school is empowered to decide how best to improve arts programs. The windfall is taken from the state's general fund, in an amount equal to 1% of all money spent in schools serving students in transitional kindergarten through 12th grade. Therefore, the money is continuous and generally will increase every year.
One part of the coalition's analysis looked at spending on arts instruction at 12 schools, comparing budgets before and after Proposition 28 money arrived for the 2023-24 school year. Nine of the schools had exactly the same amount of art instruction before and after. All 12 schools in the coalition report had increased enrollment.
Rosewood Elementary School in Beverly Grove had the equivalent of an arts teacher two days a week, both before and after the push of Proposition 28. And this was despite an increase in enrollment from 263 to 464 students. Such an increase in enrollment could have entitled the school to more funding for arts instruction even without Proposition 28.
Three of the 12 schools had an increase in arts instruction.
Serrania Elementary School in Woodland Hills, for example, went from having an arts teacher three days a week to four days a week. But the coalition estimates the school's Proposition 28 entitlement to be more than $80,000, which should have paid more, they said, especially given the increase in enrollment from 493 to 562.
The analysis looked at some school budgets in greater detail. At Walgrove Elementary in Mar Vista and Warner Elementary in Westwood, the district's contribution to arts instruction was reduced to zero and replaced with Proposition 28 dollars, according to the analysis.
The research on these schools was compiled in collaboration with involved parents who lobbied for specific public information about their schools' budgets. But obtaining and decoding the budgets took perseverance, said Nicolle Fefferman, a parent and teacher who helped organize the effort.
The district's report does not contain any comparison of arts staff before and after Proposition 28. Instead, the report simply lists a number of arts instructors. The report also provides a total figure for funds spent as part of the “Cultural Arts Passport” program. Passport funds are commonly spent on excursions.
These field trips, including to the zoo and sporting events, are positive for students, but are not necessarily related to the arts. They also do not represent the actual arts instruction envisioned by the proposal, according to parents and the union coalition.
Responding to criticism, Los Angeles schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho recently announced that he would adjust budgets for next year at some schools, but not because the district had done anything inappropriate before.
Beutner drafted Proposition 28 after leaving Los Angeles Unified in June 2021, and voters subsequently approved the ballot measure in November 2022 by a nearly two-thirds margin. Students would begin to benefit in the school year that has just concluded.
The text of Proposition 28 notes that the overwhelming majority of public schools “do not offer a high-quality course of study in all arts disciplines” and that “access to arts education is worse for high-poverty schools,” and adds that “the cause of the constant decline in arts and music education is directly related to inadequate and unstable financing of such programs.”
