A bill to clarify how schools should spend California’s $1 billion annual investment in arts education is headed for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk after legislators reached a compromise with a champion of the original initiative.
“I’m delighted to come to an agreement that will further arts education for kids in California,” said Austin Beutner, former superintendent of Los Angeles Unified and chief architect behind Proposition 28, California’s ambitious vision for music, theater, drama and fine art in K-12 schools.
The bill, AB 2440, seeks to streamline and clarify some of the finer points of Prop. 28, which voters overwhelmingly passed in 2022. Prop. 28 requires schools to use their new arts funding to supplement – not replace – existing programs. But schools’ confusion over Prop. 28 rules had led dozens of districts to return their arts money to the state, for fear of spending it incorrectly and getting sued.
That was the case with Los Angeles Unified, which Beutner sued in 2025, claiming the district cut existing arts programs and replaced them using Prop. 28 money – an allegation the district denies. That case is pending in Los Angeles Superior Court.
AB 2440, by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance, aims to allay schools’ apprehension about spending their arts money. Among other things, the bill more closely aligns Prop. 28 with the state’s existing arts framework, so schools would have an exact definition of what constitutes an arts class.
