This was written by staff at the nonprofit newsroom EdSource. It was republished by The Mendocino Voice in partnership with EdSource to bring relevant education news to Mendocino County readers. Learn more about EdSource here.
SACRAMENTO, CA., 10/21/26 — California schools spent the vast majority of their roughly $1 billion allocation in Proposition 28 funds for the 2023-2024 school year on hiring new visual arts, music, dance and theater teachers and expanding arts programs, according to data obtained by EdSource.
But while schools spent nearly 96% of their arts education funds, they also left about $34.4 million on the table, meaning they will have those unspent funds deducted and receive smaller allocations of arts education funds for next year.
The expenditure data reported by schools to the California Department of Education gives a snapshot, for the first time, of Prop. 28’s rollout in K-12 classrooms. Even as some teacher positions remain unfilled, and administrators try to avoid litigation for breaking spending rules, California schools largely put their annual windfall of Prop. 28 funds to use in their first year.
“These expenditure numbers reflect that extraordinary collective effort, but they also give us a roadmap for what comes next,” said Kyle Holmes, director of the California County Superintendents Statewide Arts Initiative, which oversees Prop. 28 implementation and provided the data. “We now have a clearer picture of where schools need additional support, and an established statewide network ready to help them turn this historic investment into lasting opportunities for students.”
Voters overwhelmingly passed Prop. 28 in 2022, which sets aside about $1 billion a year for arts education that is distributed to schools based on enrollment and share of low-income students. In the three years since the law went into effect, school leaders have flagged several issues — missing state-level guidance, confusion around spending rules, a lack of arts administrators, as well as shortages of arts educators, which they say slowed down schools’ ability to spend their Prop. 28 dollars.
“With all the confusion and frustration, with very little guidance or direction set forward in the statute, (the 96% expenditure rate) is better than any of us could have expected,” Holmes said.
More arts programs for students
According to the data, most California schools and districts — about 85% — spent all of their Prop. 28 funds.
Fresno Unified, for instance, spent all of its $13 million allocation to fund new elementary arts integration and dance programs for nearly 50,000 students, the district said. Fresno Unified also hired 60 new full-time arts instructors, along with 19 elementary arts integration teachers and 13 dance teachers.
“The biggest concern initially was around hiring that many teachers,” especially educators credentialed in dance and theater, said Heather McKeithen, arts education manager for Fresno Unified.
The district trained all of its 105 principals to “ensure the money was being spent the way the law intended,” and figured out how to make new arts programs work within the limited instructional time available, McKeithen said.
“Everyone was also so used to grant money disappearing after a few years, that we had to think more strategically with an eye towards the long term,” McKeithen said of the ongoing Prop. 28 funds.
Fullerton Joint Union High School District in Orange County spent all of its $2 million in first-year Prop. 28 funds to hire 75 arts specialists as well as develop film programs, expand technical theater offerings and provide visual arts instruction. Despite declining enrollment, the district said it has seen an increase in students participating in the arts, with about 225 new instrumental music students and 33 additional vocal music students.
Michael Despars, a visual and performing arts teacher on special assignment at Fullerton, said the district relied on the Orange County Department of Education’s arts coordinator to find “creative uses for Prop. 28 funding that reach as many of our students as possible.”
Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest district, also reported spending all of its $71 million allocation, followed by San Diego Unified, which spent 99% of its roughly $15 million allocation.
Prop. 28 expenditures alone, however, do not measure whether money was spent correctly or effectively on arts education.
Confusion around the law’s “supplement, not supplant” rule — which requires that schools use Prop. 28 funds on new arts instruction — led to some schools allegedly misusing funds for existing salaries or stipends in choir, band, theater and dance programs, for example.
Broad definitions of the arts also enabled some administrators to spend money on programs such as culinary arts or computer science.
In 2025, former Los Angeles Unified superintendent and Prop. 28 author Austin Beutner sued LAUSD, accusing the district of diverting millions in Prop. 28 funding to pay for existing salaries. The case is pending in court.
Holmes said a new law, Assembly Bill 2440, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, will provide more transparency regarding how schools are using Prop. 28 funds.
The new law requires schools to post expenditure plans publicly, and more clearly defines the five arts disciplines — media arts, visual arts, music, dance and theater — that are eligible for Prop. 28 spending. It also clears the way for districts to use Prop. 28 funds on arts programs that lost funding.
“We want to make sure that every dollar is spent,” Holmes, director of the California County Superintendents Arts Initiative, said, “and we want to make sure that it is spent on improving and providing supplemental, high-quality arts education for our kids.”
Millions left on the table
About 336 school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education accounted for the unspent $34.4 million that will be returned to the state’s total Prop. 28 budget for next year. Schools had three years to spend their funds, and those that missed this year’s June 30 deadline will have the amount of unspent funds deducted from their next Prop. 28 allocation.
Yuba City Unified, for example, spent only 18% of its allocation and will lose about $1.7 million. Palmdale Elementary School District spent about 55% of its allocation, losing $1.4 million in arts education funds. Sacramento City Unified spent about 71% of its $6.2 million allocation and will lose $1.8 million in next year’s allocation.
“Like many districts throughout California, we’ve faced challenges putting this funding to work,” the Sacramento City district said in a statement. “Finding qualified arts educators, building sustainable positions across multiple school sites, and navigating the requirements of a new funding program have all been part of that process.”
A Sacramento City spokesperson said the district received a waiver to carry over unspent funds to the following year, but Holmes, director of the California County Superintendents Arts Initiative, said no such waiver exists. Sacramento City only received a waiver for Prop. 28’s requirement to spend 80% of funds on personnel and will still lose $1.8 million next year, Holmes said.
Holmes said the California County Superintendents Arts Initiative will reach out to schools who left millions unspent to understand what went wrong and where they can help them invest in the arts.
“Our goal is that as many of our students in California as possible can have more equitable access to arts education, and clearly, that’s not happening in some of our districts,” Holmes said.
A statewide analysis earlier this year also found that more than $218 million in Prop. 28 funds remained unspent as of March of this year, in part because schools had charged their spending to funds they received for the following two years instead, Holmes said. Fixing the accounting error alone saved schools from losing about $168 million from next year’s Prop. 28 allocations, he said.
The California County Superintendents’ Art Initiative will use the final expenditure report to advise on strategic arts plans with schools, which will help them tailor Prop. 28 spending to school communities, Holmes said.
“The more years we do this with Prop. 28, the better we’ll get at it,” Holmes said.
This article first appeared in EdSource here.