Arts and Culture

Arts Education Funding in California: How Will Proposition 28 Roll Out?

Austin Beutner, the former superintendent of LAUSD who spearheaded Proposition 28, recently talked with EdSource about how the groundbreaking arts education initiative will roll out and why this is such a game-changer for California public education. Proposition 28 creates a guaranteed annual funding stream for music and arts education by setting aside 1% from the state’s general fund. In 2023, that comes out to roughly $941 million.

Published

3 years ago

February 25, 2023

Oakland Post

Proposition 28 creates a guaranteed annual funding stream for music and arts education by setting aside 1% from the state's general fund.

By Karen D’Souza
EdSource

Austin Beutner recalls struggling to fit in at a new school as a fifth grader. He felt awkward and alone until the music teacher suggested he try playing an instrument. Beutner took up the cello and found his voice.

That epiphany transformed his childhood, paving the way for an eclectic career that includes working for the U.S. State Department, serving as vice mayor of Los Angeles, investment banking, philanthropy and keeping the nation’s second-largest school district afloat during the depths of the pandemic.

Beutner, the former superintendent of LAUSD who spearheaded Proposition 28, recently talked with EdSource about how the groundbreaking arts education initiative will roll out and why this is such a game-changer for California public education. Proposition 28 creates a guaranteed annual funding stream for music and arts education by setting aside 1% from the state’s general fund. In 2023, that comes out to roughly $941 million.

What’s your reaction to the measure succeeding?

I’m excited. It’s a meaningful amount of funding. It’s going to make a difference in every school, hopefully for every kid. The key is that art is not a luxury. It’s the glue that binds together a proper and good education. It binds together literacy, math and critical thinking. I don’t know why, frankly, policymakers haven’t made investing in the arts and music more of a priority when the path to a livelihood for so many students in the creative economy in California is right there.

I know the funding will fluctuate with the overall budget. How much funding per child this year?

Based on our estimate, it’s $112 per kid, preschool through 12 plus $85 for every Title 1 (low-income) kid. Every year. Forever. You know, it’ll bump down with some budgets and bump up with others.

How does it compare to other states?

One of the things that we uncovered was just how poorly the state of California was doing in this regard, where barely 1 in 5 public schools have a full-time arts and music program. In New York, it’s 4 out of 5. They have invested more carefully and more thoroughly in arts and arts education for children than California has. So the state of California has to catch up. I think this initiative puts us back in the lead.

How did arts education get cut from the schools in California in the first place?

The original sin is if you cut funding for schools, is that you’re not cutting fat, you’re cutting muscle and bone. You see lots of symptoms of inadequate funding. You see class sizes that are too big. The number of students per credentialed teacher in New York is something like 35% less than it is in California. You also see it in the offering of programs for children. If you’re testing for math and English, then those are probably the last to be cut. The arts are misperceived as extras, and the extras get cut.

Do you see the new arts programming as fluid? Could a school pivot from animation to sculpture to dance over time?

Absolutely. Ideally, you’re not going to pivot every six months. It won’t be a very good program. But they might try something and a year from now, say we’re not seeing what we want. Or they might see something better a year down the road and say, you know, let’s switch to that. But hopefully, schools will make an informed and thoughtful choice.

Why do you see this funding as sparking community engagement?

It’s a good place to start. It’s a path to bringing families in and giving them a voice.

Historically, most school funding in California comes very prescriptively from the top. From Sacramento to school districts, from school districts to schools. They say: Do this. Well, it’s the opposite here, which is, here’s funds for your choice of arts programs. I think there’s some exciting opportunities for school communities to engage around this choice. Imagine, a school might be thinking of a different math curriculum, and they say, “Come on in, families, and let’s have a discussion about math curriculum.” Some will come, I’m sure, but many might be intimidated. But with arts and music, everybody has a point of view. Everybody listens. Everybody watches the Grammys. Everyone will watch the Oscars.

There’s a neat opportunity for school communities to engage and help their school leadership make a good choice.

Tell me about your experience with the cello.

My parents changed jobs, so I had to start a new school in February of fifth grade. Middle of the school year. This was Michigan, but I wasn’t worried about the cold weather outside. It was really cold. I was worried about lunch because as a shy kid in the fifth grade at a new school, my great concern was, who am I going to sit with at lunch? Fortunately, I was invited to a music class. It was a string class, and they handed me a cello. I didn’t know what a cello was. But there was lunch, thank goodness! And for me, cello became bass, bass became guitar. I developed a sense of agency and confidence in high school. I could perform in front of thousands of people before I could speak in front of tens of people. It all started with that connection to other people, feeling safe, feeling like I had found a group of friends.

How long will the program take to find its stride?

It’s early days. Will schools find the best possible program right out the park? Probably not. The money will provide for about 15,000 paying jobs, full and part-time, in public schools. Are there going to be enough teachers, or teaching artists to be found, initially? Probably not. But I’d call those high-class problems because it’s still going to be better than it was. I think if you look five years down the road, the sands will have shifted. That’s where California is better placed than any of the 49 other states because we have so many gifted, creative people in this state, musicians, writers, performers, artists of all kinds, who have had a hard time connecting with the schools.

What’s the next step in the rollout?

The first step involves an advisory council that I’ve gotten together of supporters of the initiative itself to work on three things. The first is just to make sure basic information is well shared. You know, how much is it? How does it work? Some of the basics of implementation. The second would be to elevate best practices in the schools. There are great art programs out there that can help show the way. The third piece is staffing. The money will provide for about 15,000 jobs. How do we better connect that talent, arts educators and teaching artists, to the schools?

When will the funding start to land in schools? This fall?

In substance, yes. As a technical matter, the school year starts July 1. There’s nothing to stop an entrepreneurial school from starting in summer school.

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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KarenD’Souza/EdSource0833a02/21/23

https://edsource.org/2023/arts-education-funding-in-california-how-will-proposition-28-roll-out/685800/www/bcn/general/02/newsclip.23.02.21.08.36.01.1.txt

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COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

3 weeks ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

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Activism

Dorothy Lee Bolden: Uniting Domestic Workers

Domestic work followed Bolden beyond high school. According to sources from the New York Times, Bolden said she would wake “at 4 a.m. to leave home by 6 a.m., and be on the job by 8 a.m., perform all those duties necessary to the proper management of a household for eight hours, leave there by 4 p.m. to be home by 6 p.m. where I would do the same things I’ve done all over again for my own family.”

Published

3 weeks ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dorothy Lee Bolden. File photo.

By Tamara Shiloh

Her first experience with domestic work was at the age of nine. For $1.25 per week, Alabama-born Dorothy Lee Bolden (1923–2005), alongside her mother, washed soiled diapers for a White employer. Little did anyone know that this profession would spur Bolden to spearhead the movement for basic dignity and respect for generations of domestic workers.

Domestic work followed Bolden beyond high school. According to sources from the New York Times, Bolden said she would wake “at 4 a.m. to leave home by 6 a.m., and be on the job by 8 a.m., perform all those duties necessary to the proper management of a household for eight hours, leave there by 4 p.m. to be home by 6 p.m. where I would do the same things I’ve done all over again for my own family.”

It was Bolden’s experiences working as a domestic in 1940’s Atlanta that inspired her civil rights activism. A White female employer demanded that Bolden remain beyond her shift and wash dishes. Bolden refused. She was arrested and held in a county jail because “she was crazy.” There was no other reason for disobeying an order from a White person.

Bolden was never sentenced or institutionalized, but this event was the seed that grew into organization that would protect domestic workers across the United States: the National Domestic Workers Union of America.

Rosa Parks had made public transportation a major breeding ground for civil rights activism, so Bolden began organizing during the long bus rides her peers made to the wealthy neighborhoods. Many were fed up, working long hours for little pay, with little to no worker protections.

This organization of women would go on to fight for worker’s rights, create training programs, and teach workers to advocate for themselves. It was also important to Bolden to teach communication skills.

In the book Household Workers Unite, Bolden is quoted as saying: “You have to teach each maid how to negotiate… And this is the most important thing — communication. I would tell them it was up to them to communicate.”

But respect for Bolden’s activism was not shared by everyone. Although she consulted presidents Ford, Reagan, and Carter, she received several death threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

The New York Times reported that during the makings of an oral history project, Bolden said that “men claiming to be members of the KKK called her house and spoke about “whipping my behind,” but in coarser terms. “I told them any time they wanted to, come on over and grab it,” Bolden said during the interview. “It didn’t scare me, didn’t bother me. It made me angry. It made me determined to do what I had to do.”

Representative John Lewis of Georgia said that Bolden “spoke up, and she spoke out, and when she saw something that wasn’t fair, or just, or right, she would say something.”

The NDWU of America ran until the mid-1990s, but Bolden’s legacy lives on.

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Arts and Culture

Book Review: Books on Black History and Black Life for Kids

For the youngest reader, “As You Are: A Hope for Black Sons” by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Magination Press, $18.99) is a book for young Black boys and for their mothers. It’s a hope inside a prayer that the world treats a child gently, and it could make a great baby shower gift.

Published

3 weeks ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Photo of Black History Month book covers by Terri Schlichenmeyer.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Authors: Various, Copyright: c. 2025, 2026, Publishers: Various, SRPs: $17.99-$18.99, Page Counts: Various,

Everybody in your family has stories to share.

Your parents have told you some, no doubt. Your grandparents have offered a few, too, and aunties and uncles have spun some good tales. But there’s so much more to know, so grab one of these great books and learn about Black History and Black life.

For the youngest reader, “As You Are: A Hope for Black Sons” by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Magination Press, $18.99) is a book for young Black boys and for their mothers. It’s a hope inside a prayer that the world treats a child gently, and it could make a great baby shower gift.

If someone said you couldn’t do something that you were clearly able to do, would you fight to do it anyhow? In the new book, “Remember Her Name! Debbie Allen’s Rise to Fame” by Tami Charles, illustrated by Meredith Lucius (Charlesbridge, $17.99), a young girl in the Jim Crow South is told that she can’t dance because of the color of her skin.

She didn’t listen, though, and neither did her mother, who took her daughter to Mexico, where the girl soared! This is an inspiration for any 5-to-7-year-old; be sure to check out the back-of-the-book information, if you’re an adult fan.

Do you often hear your elders say things that sound like lessons? They might be, so “Where There is Love: A Story of African Proverbs” by Shauntay Grant, illustrated by Leticia Moreno (Penguin Workshop, $18.99) is a book you’ll like. It’s a quick-to-read collection of short proverbs that you can say every day. Kids ages 4-to-6 will easily remember what they find in this book; again, look in the back for more information.

Surely, you love your neighborhood, which is why the tale inside “Main Street: A Community Story about Redlining” by Britt Hawthorne and Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Penguin Kokila, $18.99) is a book for you.

Olivia’s neighborhood is having a block party, but she’s sad when no one shows up. That’s when she learns that “the government” is discriminating against the people and businesses near where she lives. So, what can she and her neighbors do? The answer might inspire 6-to-8-year-old kids to stand up to wrongs they see, and to help make their neighborhoods stronger and safer.

And finally, if a kid wants a book, where can they go to find it? In “I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy” by Mychal Threets, illustrated by Lorraine Nam (Random House, $18.99) is a good introduction to the best of what a library has to offer. The freedom to walk into a library and borrow a book is the theme here, as is the sheer happiness of being welcomed, no matter who you are. This is an easy book for kids as young as two and as old as five to enjoy.

On that note, if you want more, head to that library, or a nearby bookstore. They’ll be glad to see you. They’ve got stories to share.