LAUSD sued for alleged misuse of nearly $80 million in arts, music education funds

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles Unified School District students and Prop. 28 author Austin Beutner have filed a lawsuit against the school district and Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, alleging the misuse of $76.7 million in Prop. 28 funds dedicated for art and music education.

The Los Angeles Superior Court suit was filed Monday and contends that hundreds of thousands of students have been deprived from receiving expanded arts and music instruction as mandated by law.

Beutner, who wrote Prop. 28, was once the LAUSD superintendent.

"We're suing to make sure that the district follows through with the law, hires more teachers and provides more arts instruction to kids in public schools, every school," said Beutner.

Parents of the plaintiffs, all LAUSD students, issued a joint statement about the suit, calling art and music education essential for their children to develop the skills they need in the classroom, in their careers and throughout their lives.

One plaintiff, a 15-year-old Franklin High School Latina student, has never been able to take an arts class at that campus or when she previously was enrolled at Luther Burbank Middle School, the suit alleges.

"Although plaintiff Alana S. is required to take at least one art class to graduate, she is not sure whether she will be able to get into one at Franklin High School because of how rare they are,'' according to the suit, which further states that her mother is looking for an after-school art program as a replacement.

"LAUSD is denying our children and their classmates the expanded arts and music education in every school that Prop 28 provided,'' the statement read. "We are disappointed that we must go to court to compel Supt. Carvalho and LAUSD to follow the law.''

Vicky Martinez, who has three children at LAUSD schools, is part of the suit.

"There are no additional arts or theater or music teachers. My youngest, who's in middle school, doesn't have any arts whatsoever," said Martinez.

They claim funding allocated from Prop. 28 is being misused. For example, it's not supposed to pay for existing staff but be used to hire more staff.

In a 2024 memo sent from Superintendent Carvalho to the Board of Education, he said that "the district prioritized the use of Prop. 28 funds to cover existing staff as well as hire new staff."

Carvalho also stated that during the 2023-2024 school year, "100 new teachers were hired for arts programs, representing a 2% increase from the prior year."

But Beutner said he doesn't believe him.

"Long Beach receives about $10 million a year from Prop. 2. They've hired 150 additional arts teachers," said Beutner. "By that same standard, LA Unified should have hired more than 1,000. It hasn't happened."

Carvalho was not available for an on-camera interview with Eyewitness News, but an LAUSD spokesperson said they have not been served with the complaint, issuing the following statement.

"That said, we have sought to clarify any misunderstandings regarding Prop. 28 and we continue to follow implementation guidance as provided by the state of California to ensure that we are fully complying with the requirements of Prop 28,'' according to the statement.

The lawsuit is supported by unions representing nearly all of LAUSD's workforce, including United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), Service Employees International Union, Local 99 and Teamsters Local 572.

Passed by California voters in 2022 to address long standing underfunding of arts and music education, Prop. 28 provides dedicated funding to school districts to hire arts and music teachers and aides at all campuses so that each student benefits from increased arts and music instruction.

Stars like Dr. Dre, Will.I.Am and Aloe Blacc are just a few of many who supported Prop. 28 when it was on the ballot in 2022.

The official ballot pamphlet, prepared by the state Legislative Analyst's Office, states that schools must certify that the funds were spent in addition to existing funding for arts education
programs. Prop. 28 also provides additional funding for schools attended by students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, in recognition that students from low-income families and particularly Black and Latino students often suffer the most from a lack of art and music education.

In accepting Prop 28 funds, school districts are required to use this money to increase and not replace funding for existing art and music instruction and to allocate at least 80% of the funds to hire arts teachers and aides to provide music and art instruction.

"LAUSD failed both requirements,'' the suit alleges.

Beutner said he's been contacted by other school districts throughout the state for guidance about Prop. 28, but Carvalho hasn't reached out to him once. In fact, they've never met.

City News Service contributed to this report.