By: Ainsley Northrop
Editor-in-Chief
In 2022, California voters approved Proposition 28: The Arts and Music in Schools Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act. Now, in light of California’s two billion dollar budget deficit, it is imperative that we acknowledge reality: Prop 28 is not enough. Despite this proposition’s promised support, California arts programs are still in dire need of financial and hands-on support.
Although the state Education Code stipulates that all schools should have sequential dance, music, theater, and visual arts programs, only around 11 percent of California schools actually do. Furthermore, according to a Stanford Research Institute international report, fewer than half of elementary schools have rooms and equipment dedicated to the arts. The absence of specialized spaces damages learning; lack of proper equipment—such as instruments, dance mirrors, and art supplies—obstructs student participation and signals that the arts are not a priority.
Due to budget and liability concerns, Fisher Middle School and surrounding elementary schools no longer allow outside organizations to facilitate theatrical productions, and Saratoga High School lost its chance to host the California Music Educators Association Festival. Last year, LGHS temporarily removed their drama elective altogether. And most recently, LGHS Music suffered a decline in eighth grade program recruitment.
Prop 28 funds are not enough to support arts education. In April of 2024, teacher unions filed a complaint on the Los Angeles Union School District’s fund use; the schools fired existing arts teachers to rehire them with fund money instead of putting it towards new costs. With Prop 28’s requirement that 80 percent of funds be spent on hiring arts educators, many California schools struggle to create a substantial change in arts education. If schools cannot hire a new teacher, the majority of their funds are unviable, warranting “rehiring” existing teachers and redistributing their past salaries to other school costs outside of the arts.
Music and art programs are essential to student success, bolstering emotional well-being, cognitive empathy, school engagement, and career aspirations. The World Health Organization even asserts that the arts “help tackle noncommunicable diseases – from cardiovascular diseases to cancer,” and a recent University of Southern California study on elementary school students found that early music education improves writing and social skills. Students who learn music from a young age have, on average, improved mental health and confidence, sharper memory, and more specific goals for the future. Furthermore, as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences mentions, arts education fosters cultural understanding and empathy. For example, in the Los Gatos High School choral program and California Choral Directors Association regional and all-state events, students study music from across the world, covering topics such as the Haitian Revolution and the Civil Rights Movement. Learning history and different languages through music, students build multicultural awareness and appreciation.
To protect the arts, it is crucial that we remain active in our communities, whether incentivizing teacher education, voting to increase taxes for schools, speaking with the school board and booster clubs about how to help, calling senators and house representatives, or even attending Superintendent Heath Rocha’s coffee chats. Arts programs are essential for student education, and we cannot take their existence for granted.
(Sources: American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, USC Today, World Health Organization)