14-02-2025
LAUSD Accused of Mishandling $77 Million in Arts Education Funds
Los Angeles Unified School District faces a lawsuit alleging misuse of $76.7 million in taxpayer funds that voters approved to expand arts and music education. The L.A. Superior Court filing targets both the district and Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, claiming LAUSD failed to hire new teachers as required by Proposition 28 since its 2022 LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner, who authored Prop. 28, filed the suit Monday alongside eight students represented by their parents. "We're suing to make sure that the district follows through with the law, hires more teachers and provides more arts instruction to kids in public schools, every school," says suit, backed by the district's major labor unions including United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), Service Employees International Union Local 99, and Teamsters Local 572, argues that without new teacher hires, arts education remains stagnant. One plaintiff, a 15-year-old at Franklin High School, reports never taking an arts class at either Franklin or her previous LAUSD school. Parent Vicky Martinez, who has three children in LAUSD schools, notes: "There are no additional arts or theater or music teachers. My youngest, who's in middle school, doesn't have any arts whatsoever."More than two years ago, artists and educators across California rallied to address long-standing gaps in arts education through Prop. 28. The measure passed with overwhelming support – 70% of L.A. County voters backed it, along with prominent artists like Dr. Dre and The law mandates California allocate general fund money to expand arts education, generating $938 million statewide last year. LAUSD received $76.7 million, with 80% designated for hiring new art March, before filing the suit, Beutner and his associates sent a letter to the governor and state leaders claiming the district violated the law. "It's clear that Californians overwhelmingly want more arts and music in public schools," the letter states. "It has come to our attention, some school districts in California are willfully violating the law by using the new funds provided by Prop. 28 to replace existing spending for arts education at schools."The district maintains compliance with state guidelines. In a statement Monday, LAUSD officials said they hadn't received notice of the lawsuit but "continue to follow implementation guidance as provided by the state of California to ensure that we are fully complying with the requirements of Prop. 28."LAUSD cites increased arts funding from $114 million in 2022-23 to over $206 million in 2023-24, with schools averaging an $82,000 boost to their arts budgets. They report arts staffing grew from 273 to 520 full-time employees. In a June 2024 memo to the Board of Education, Superintendent Carvalho stated that "the district prioritized the use of Prop. 28 funds to cover existing staff as well as hire new staff."Beutner challenges these figures: "Long Beach receives about $10 million a year from Prop. 28. They've hired 150 additional arts teachers. By that same standard, L.A. Unified should have hired more than 1,000. It hasn't happened."
UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz criticizes the situation: "I am frustrated and exasperated by this kind of shell game that we're playing with voters' money, and we're also playing with students, our babies, in this district, that deserve to have arts education on a daily basis in their schools."The plaintiffs claim funding from Prop. 28 is being misallocated. The funds are meant to hire additional staff, not cover existing salaries. School districts must use the money to increase, not replace, existing arts and music funding. Despite repeated requests over the past year, the district has not released key budget documents that would clarify how it allocated these funds.
