Existing law, the Arts and Music in Schools—Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act, an initiative measure approved by the voters as Proposition 28 at the November 8, 2022, statewide general election, provides a minimum source of annual funding to K–12 public schools, including public charter schools, to supplement arts education programs for pupils attending those schools, as specified. Existing law requires the continuous appropriation for these purposes, without regard to fiscal years, from the General Fund to the State Department of Education, of an amount equal to 1% of the total state and local revenues received by local educational agencies in the preceding fiscal year that are included in the calculation of the minimum funding guarantee established by the California Constitution, as provided.

Existing law requires funds appropriated pursuant to Proposition 28 to be allocated by the department to each local educational agency, and requires local educational agencies to allocate those funds to each schoolsite, pursuant to specified calculations. Existing law requires the principal or program director of each schoolsite to develop an expenditure plan for allocated funds.

This bill would authorize local educational agencies to pool allocated funds and require, as a condition of this pooling, local educational agencies to ensure, among other things, (1) that expenditures for each schoolsite are in proportion to the allocation for each schoolsite, and (2) compliance with the expenditure plan adopted by the principal or program director.

Existing law requires, as a condition of receiving Proposition 28 funds, a local educational agency to, among other things, annually certify that the funds will be used to supplement arts education programs and not supplant existing funding for those programs, and that funds expended in the prior fiscal year were used to supplement arts education programs.

This bill would require this certification to include specified calculations that compare (3) existing funds available for arts education programs, as provided, with (4) current year expenditures for arts education programs. The bill would require, in determining the existing funds available for arts education programs, a local educational agency to subtract from the prior year total expenditures for arts programs expenditures from (5) Proposition 28 funds, and (6) resources that are no longer available in the current year, and subsequently add newly available resources for arts education programs, excluding current year Proposition 28 funds. The bill would deem a local educational agency for which current year expenditures for arts education programs equal or exceed the calculations of existing funds available for arts education programs to be in compliance with the requirement to supplement arts education programs.

Proposition 28 authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions by a 2 3 vote of each house if the amendment furthers its purposes.

This bill would declare that the above-described provisions further the purposes of Proposition 28.