Proposed bill would strip protection for school arts funding, former L.A. Supt. Beutner warns

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Set us as preferred Former Los Angeles schools superintendent Austin Beutner is trying to stop proposed legislation that he says would allow officials to strip away voter-approved arts-education funding to schools.The proposed bill, he said, also could provide legal immunity for L.A.

Unified, which he accuses of violating the law by allegedly using arts funding for other purposes.L.A.

Unified has denied wrongdoing in how it has used the funds and also said it played no role in developing the bill.Supporters of the bill have defended it as making the new arts funding more accessible for schools.Until now Assembly Bill 2440 — which has made it most of the way through the legislative process — has enjoyed broad support, including from arts organizations, with no opponents emerging.But that changed late Tuesday, when Beutner sent a letter to state Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, a South Bay Democrat who is sponsoring the legislation.

Beutner said the bill attempts to rewrite Proposition 28, which voters approved by a nearly two-thirds margin in 2022.Proposition 28 sets aside an amount equal to 1% of the state’s base education funding — close to $1 billion per year — to increase arts education.

This extra funding is drawn down from the general fund — so it adds to the total allotted for education.A key provision is that the new arts money must supplement and not replace money already being spent on the arts.

The proposition’s supporters did not want to see a zero-sum game — where new arts money simply replaced existing arts money.They wanted to prevent arts money from being raided for other purposes.

Beutner wrote Proposition 28 and also backed the campaign financially with his personal wealth.“As proposed,” Beutner wrote, “AB 2440 will gut two essential elements of the law: a requirement that Prop.

28 funds be used to expand arts education at every school so every student will benefit, and a...