Latest news with #Prop28
CBS News
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Lawmaker calls for state audit of LAUSD after fraud lawsuit from former superintendent
A Southern California lawmaker is calling for a state audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District after a lawsuit claims it defrauded taxpayers of millions of dollars in funding. "I've never called for a state audit for anything else before," Assemblyman Isaac Bryan said. "Many of my colleagues have not either ... It's a major move. It's one that if the state auditor decides to follow through on our request, the district is going to have to produce the necessary documents to show that they are in compliance." The district's former superintendent is spearheading the lawsuit. Austin Beutner and Hollywood's biggest stars helped get nearly a billion dollars set aside specifically for new art teachers and classes, through Proposition 28. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he leaned on the law's intent and used Prop 28 funds to cover existing and new staff. LAUSD said it followed state guidelines and the situation is just a "misunderstanding of the law. "It is our sincere hope to expedite a resolution to this matter that brings clarity to this matter, continues to protect and expand arts education for our students, and avoids legal costs to our publicly funded institution," the district said in a statement. More than two years ago, artists and educators across California came together to reverse declining arts education through a new state law. The change would come from Prop 28, which passed overwhelmingly across California, with 70% of LA County in favor of it. Now, there is nearly $1 billion in additional art funding for all schools, with a larger portion promised to underserved communities and a full 80% specifically earmarked to hire new art teachers. However, after LAUSD got the largest arts funding check in the state, parents began noticing a problem. "The district wasn't doing what was intended with the money," parent Vicky Martinez said. Former Superintendent Beutner said the district received $77 million, but none of it went toward hiring new teachers. Beutner and heads of the LAUSD's largest unions said zero new teachers meant zero real growth in arts education — the very reason he wrote and they backed the law. "It's a loss of opportunity," SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias said. Regarding legal costs, KCAL News asked the district directly about possibly settling the parent lawsuit, but we have not received a response.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Yahoo
LAUSD sued over alleged misuse of funds dedicated for arts, music education
The Brief LAUSD is being sued for the misuse of nearly $80 million in funds reserved for arts and music education. The funds were dedicated from Prop. 28, which voters passed in 2022. LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Unified School District students and the district's former superintendent, Austin Beutner, have filed a lawsuit against the school district and Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, alleging the misuse of $76.7 million in Prop. 28 funds dedicated for art and music education. The Los Angeles Superior Court suit was filed Monday and contends that hundreds of thousands of students have been deprived from receiving expanded arts and music instruction as mandated by law. Parents of the plaintiffs, all LAUSD students, issued a joint statement about the suit, calling art and music education essential for their children to develop the skills they need in the classroom, in their careers and throughout their lives. "What LA Unified has done is they've used the new money to pay for stuff they're already doing. And we got the receipts. There's a memo from Carvalho, Superintendent Carvalho to the board of LA Unified saying, 'well, we used the money to pay for existing staff, but that's okay'. Well, it's not okay. The law says you have to use the money to add staff. They didn't," Beutner, who authored Prop. 28, told FOX 11. One plaintiff, a 15-year-old Franklin High School student, was never able to take an arts class at that campus or when she previously was enrolled at Luther Bank Middle School, the suit alleges. "Although plaintiff Alana S. is required to take at least one art class to graduate, she is not sure whether she will be able to get into one at Franklin High School because of how rare they are," according to the suit, which further states that her mother is looking for an after-school art program as a replacement. "LAUSD is denying our children and their classmates the expanded arts and music education in every school that Prop 28 provided," the statement read. "We are disappointed that we must go to court to compel Supt. Carvalho and LAUSD to follow the law." The LAUSD issued a statement regarding the suit, saying they have not been served with the complaint. "That said, we have sought to clarify any misunderstandings regarding Prop. 28 and we 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," according to the statement. The lawsuit is supported by unions representing nearly all of LAUSD's workforce, including United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), Service Employees International Union, Local 99 and Teamsters Local 572. Passed by California voters in 2022 to address longstanding underfunding of arts and music education, Prop. 28 provides dedicated funding to school districts to hire arts and music teachers and aides at all campuses so that each student benefits from increased arts and music instruction. The official ballot pamphlet, prepared by the state Legislative Analyst's Office, states that schools must certify that the funds were spent in addition to existing funding for arts education programs. Prop. 28 also provides additional funding for schools attended by students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, in recognition that students from low-income families and particularly Black and Latino students often suffer the most from a lack of art and music education. In accepting Prop 28 funds, school districts are required to use this money to increase and not replace funding for existing art and music instruction and to allocate at least 80% of the funds to hire arts teachers and aides to provide music and art instruction. "LAUSD failed both requirements," the suit alleges.
CBS News
11-02-2025
- CBS News
LAUSD faces lawsuit claiming the district defrauded taxpayers
A lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on Monday claims they defrauded taxpayers over millions of dollars in funding. The district's former superintendent is spearheading the lawsuit. Austin Beutner and Hollywood's biggest stars helped get nearly a billion dollars set aside specifically for new art teachers and classes, through Proposition 28. More than two years ago, artists and educators across California came together to reverse declining arts education through a new state law. The change would come from Prop 28, which passed overwhelmingly across California, with 70% of LA County in favor of it. Now, there is nearly $1 billion in additional art funding for all schools, with a larger portion promised to underserved communities and a full 80% specifically earmarked to hire new art teachers. However, after LAUSD got the largest arts funding check in the state parents began noticing a problem. "The district wasn't doing what was intended with the money," parent Vicky Martinez said. Former Superintendent Beutner said the district received $77 million for new teachers. "$77 million and how much of that went to new teachers? Beutner said while making a zero with his hand. Beutner and heads of the LAUSD's largest unions said zero new teachers meant zero real growth in arts education — the very reason he wrote and they backed the law. "It's a loss of opportunity," SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias said. The loss has led to this lawsuit from parents such as Martinez and Beutner. The legal action says Carvalho and the district "defrauded the State of California and its taxpayers' over "millions of dollars in funding" that was not used to "hire new art teachers" and that "hundreds of thousands of students have been harmed." The lawsuit claims that LAUSD's own data proves that almost no new teachers were hired. The majority of zeroes listed in the complaint show little or no change in teacher hours, year-over-year, for some elementary schools. "They should have hired more than a thousand teachers," Beutner said. Before filing the suit, Beutner and his associates sent a letter to the governor and state leaders last May, claiming that this "violate(s) the law." By June, the Los Angeles School Board demanded answers, telling Superintendent Carvalho, "We must be able to show the public that we are complying with funding regulations." "Parent groups, schools, art teachers, every single time I'm getting these calls and complaints that it's not happening like it should be happening at the schools," LA School Board member Scott Schmerelson said. Carvalho said, "The district prioritized the use of Prop 28 funds to cover existing staff as well as hire new staff." "He says he used the money to cover, to pay existing staff," Beutner said. "The law says you may not use the money, in plain language." The money they believe was illegally "redirected" to other things such as "to increase senior staff salaries" claiming their pay has "increased fivefold since 2010, while student enrollment has plunged." "We want to make sure the money that's supposed to go to the schools gets there," Beutner said. This includes the school Martinez's son attends. "It would mean he would have no arts in the middle school, high school," she said. "In his middle school, there's none." She added that she just wants more art, less questionable math, and for her son to dance and not suffer any sidestepping around his opportunities. "It's sad because you want the best for your kids," Martinez said. "I'm not asking for more. I'm asking for what's rightfully theirs." LAUSD said it had increased the total arts budget, beyond $77 million, and nearly doubled staffing. The district issued a statement with their explanation: "Los Angeles Unified recognizes the profound importance of the arts and prioritizes arts instruction, programming and investments. We are committed to providing arts exposure for every student in Los Angeles Unified regardless of their zip code. When Prop. 28 was approved by voters in 2022, the law required school districts to increase arts funding to provide equitable access to the arts districtwide rather than at individual school sites. Los Angeles Unified has done just that by increasing our total arts budget from $114 million in 2022-23 to over $206 million in 2023-24. Additionally, on average, schools saw an $82,000 increase in their total arts budget in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23. Arts staffing also increased from 273 full-time employees (FTE) in 2022-23 to 520 in 2023-24, nearly doubling. With additional funds being allocated for elementary arts teachers, the total FTE in 2024-25 is projected to be 726. This represents an increase of 206 FTE (~40%) from 2023-24. The District consulted and received guidance from CDE in how we are allocating Prop. 28 funding. Some have questioned how the District has allocated funding by identifying school site variances, but this is a misunderstanding of the law, or a disagreement with the stipulations of Prop. 28 itself and how the District determined to allocate other arts funding. Per CDE guidance, the determination of supplement/supplant is tested at the District level rather than at the individual school level. Further, though some individuals may have promised the public that every school across California would see an increase in arts funding, this was not included in the requirements of Prop. 28. Families are welcome to view their school budgets through our school directory website. Important background: School variance in expenditures is due, in part, to how the state calculates Prop. 28 funding and is adjusted as school enrollment changes. The CDE's Prop. 28 allocation is based on $111 per enrolled student and $78 for each student receiving free or reduced-price meals (FRPM)."
