A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Wednesday rejected the Los Angeles Unified School District’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who accuses the district of misusing millions of dollars meant for arts and music instruction under Proposition 28.
Beutner, who is running for Los Angeles mayor, stood outside the Stanley Mosk Courthouse surrounded by teachers, parents and students who support the proposition, including a parent of several student plaintiffs. He called the ruling “a huge win today for kids” and said it reinforces the promise of the voter-approved arts education measure.
“In the court today, L.A. Unified continues to spend millions of dollars on lawyers to say they don’t have to follow the law,” Beutner said. “What the judge said today is, ‘This is serious, this is going to go to trial,’ and they dismissed L.A. Unified’s specious argument that they don’t have to hire teachers at every school.”
Filed in February, the suit by Beutner and eight student plaintiffs through their guardians alleges LAUSD and Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho violated the requirements of Proposition 28 by diverting $76.7 million to pay existing staff for existing art programs rather than hiring additional arts teachers and creating new art classes, as the law requires.
In a statement on Wednesday, a spokesperson from LAUSD said that while the district would not comment on specifics of the ongoing litigation, it looks forward to having the case decided on its merits.
“Los Angeles Unified recognizes the profound importance of the arts and prioritizes arts instruction, programming and investments,” the spokesperson said. “Los Angeles Unified continues to follow implementation guidance as provided by the state of California to ensure that we are fully complying with the requirements of Prop 28, and we are committed to providing arts exposure for every student in Los Angeles Unified regardless of their zip code.”
Approved overwhelmingly by California voters in November 2022, Proposition 28 requires the state to set aside an estimated $800 million to $1 billion each year for arts and music education on top of existing school funding, starting in 2023-24.
Districts are required to use at least 80% of the money to hire new arts and music teachers, with additional allocations for schools serving high numbers of low-income students.
That’s where Beutner said he believes the district fell short.
“What Proposition 28 does is provide extra money for schools to hire that teacher so that every kid from preschool to 12th grade has arts,” he said. “And art isn’t just the sprinkles on top of an ice cream sundae, art is the glue that holds a good education together. It’s that sense of belonging that activates pathways in the brain.”
Those kinds of opportunities are what shaped Josué L. Mancía, a LAUSD graduate who helped advocate for Proposition 28 and is now studying music education in college.
Mancía said he grew up in Pico-Union, “where drugs and violence, and gangs were always close to me – trouble was easy to find. But music was my way to survive.”
Now he’s working to pass that same gift on to others through Strive, a nonprofit that provides education, mentorship and arts instruction to youth in low-income and high risk communities.
“I’ve seen students find their voice through music,” Mancía said. “I’ve seen their confidence boom. I’ve seen them heal through music, and I’ve seen hope return. That’s the power of the arts.”
Among those celebrating the court’s ruling was Julie McManus, a retired LAUSD art teacher who said she wants to see Proposition 28 dollars reach every child.
“The money does get to the campuses, we can see that it is budgeted, but it doesn’t always make it out to every child,” McManus said. “The principal has the prerogative to spend that money how they want. They call it the purview of the principal to spend that money, but the taxpayers have set aside a portion of that money for art supplies.”
She said teachers often end up fundraising or paying out of pocket for materials, and that shrinking budgets have already forced teachers to scale back creative projects.
“The projects just got smaller and smaller, like we were still teaching art, but we just couldn’t get big sheets of paper, we couldn’t get big canvases” McManus said. “So instead of making large projects, we’re making smaller and smaller projects because we’re using up all the old supplies, trying to make them last as long as possible. “
Tracy Abbott Cook, parent of a 2020 LAUSD graduate and a member of Parents Supporting Teachers, a parent advocacy group, said the ruling renews parents’ hope that the district will honor the intent of Proposition 28.
“We’re really at a point where we can start demanding people in authority to do the right thing,” said Cook, who was holding a sign that said, “LAUSD broke the Prop. 28 law. Fix it now!” Cook said, “Parents were very, very angry when this happened, when they found out their kids were being cheated, because they know their kid’s heart will expand in art.”
Vicky Martinez, whose several children attend LAUSD schools and are among the student plaintiffs, urged district leaders to act quickly.
“Do right by our students,” Martinez said. “I don’t know what you’re waiting for. Let’s do this now.”
Beutner said the next step in the case will be depositions. His team plans to launch a public website to share the process.