AB 2440: Arts and Music in Schools—Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act: allowable uses: pooled funding: funding certifications.

Existing law, the Arts and Music in SchoolsFunding Guarantee and Accountability Act, an initiative measure approved by the voters as Proposition 28 at the November 8, 2022, statewide general election, provides a minimum source of annual funding to K12 public schools, including public charter schools, to supplement arts education programs for pupils attending those schools, as specified. Existing law defines arts education program for these purposes to include, but not be limited to, instruction and training, supplies, materials, and arts educational partnership programs, for instruction in specified topics. Existing law requires the continuous appropriation for these purposes, without regard to fiscal years, from the General Fund to the State Department of Education, of an amount equal to 1% of the total state and local revenues received by local educational agencies in the preceding fiscal year that are included in the calculation of the minimum funding guarantee established by the California Constitution, as provided.

Existing law requires funds appropriated pursuant to Proposition 28 to be allocated by the department to each local educational agency, and requires local educational agencies to allocate those funds to each schoolsite, pursuant to specified calculations. Existing law requires the principal or program director of each schoolsite to develop an expenditure plan for allocated funds.

This bill would change the definition of arts education program to additionally include curriculum, instructional materials, and professional development, and would require all arts education program activities and expenditures to be consistent with the California Arts Standards for Public Schools, the California Arts Education Framework, the California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations, and the Career Technical Education Arts, Entertainment, and Design Model Curriculum Standards, as applicable. The bill would authorize local educational agencies to pool allocated funds and require, as a condition of this pooling, local educational agencies to ensure, among other things, (1) that expenditures for each schoolsite are in proportion to the allocation for each schoolsite, schoolsite and (2) compliance with the expenditure plan adopted by the principal or program director.

Existing law requires, as a condition of receiving Proposition 28 funds, a local educational agency to, among other things, annually certify that the funds will be used to supplement arts education programs and not supplant existing funding for those programs, and that funds expended in the prior fiscal year were used to supplement arts education programs.

This bill would require this certification to include specified calculations that compare (3) existing funds available for arts education programs, as provided, with (4) current year expenditures for arts education programs. The bill would require, in determining the existing funds available for arts education programs, a local educational agency to (1) subtract from the prior year total expenditures for arts programs expenditures from (5) Proposition 28 funds, funds and (6) from resources that are no longer available in the current year, and (2) subsequently add newly available resources for arts education programs, excluding current year Proposition 28 funds. The bill would deem a local educational agency for which current year expenditures for arts education programs equal or exceed the calculations of existing funds available for arts education programs to be in compliance with the requirement to supplement arts education programs.

Proposition 28 authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions by a ²/₃ vote of each house if the amendment furthers its purposes.

This bill would declare that the above-described provisions further the purposes of Proposition 28.