The Los Angeles Unified School District has been accused in a lawsuit of repeatedly violating a California law that requires the hiring of arts teachers.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the suit, brought by former L.A. School Superintendent Austin Beutner, contends that the district misused millions of dollars in state funding by failing to abide by Proposition 28 and provide arts instruction to students.
The suit alleges that L.A. Unified provided a false certification to the state that Proposition 28 arts funding has been used properly.
Proposition 28 was approved by a nearly two-thirds majority of voters in November 2022. It requires that a portion of California’s general fund, equal to 1% of the minimum state funding levels for K-12 schools and community colleges, be added to education funding to expand visual and performing arts instruction.
This translated to $938 million statewide last year and about $77 million for L.A. Unified.
Beutner, who wrote and financed the proposition, had express concerns that some school systems would use the new arts money to pay for existing arts programs — leaving students no better off than before. For that reason, the law forbids maintaining the old funding levels with the new money.
Proposition 28 also states that the arts funding, which is generated by student enrollment, must go to the school in which those students are enrolled.
“LAUSD has done exactly what the law prohibits,” the lawsuit asserts. “It has eliminated existing funding sources for existing art teachers, and replaced those funds with Proposition 28 funds, thereby violating the requirement that the funds supplement rather than supplant existing sources.”
District officials have said they have properly used Proposition 28 money plus other funding sources to increase overall arts-related spending by more than the amount required.
In June, the district added $30 million to its elementary school arts budget for 2024-25 amid ongoing accusations from Beutner and others that the district was violating the law. They had become concerned when, despite the flow of new dollars, nothing appeared to have changed at their elementary schools.
Critics have continued to fault the district for not restoring redirected funds from the prior school year. They also contend the added arts instruction for the current school year remains well short of what was required by Prop. 28.
