April 10, 2008

Update on Arts Block Grant Funding
In our effort to keep you informed about the budget process in Sacramento and how it may impact ongoing arts education funding, we want to focus on several bills and offer some perspective on what you might expect in the coming months:

The Republican leadership of the Assembly has introduced several bills, designed to help local education agencies (LEAs) deal with the current fiscal crisis. These proposals would allow categorical funds to be spent with greater flexibility. AB 2831 (Fuller) would allow for any and all unencumbered categorical funds to be expended to the general fund. AB 2890 (Duvall) would consolidate categorical funds into six categories, so that arts education could be competing against other educational interests for ongoing funds.

The Democratic leadership has responded to the recommendations by saying that, "Flexibility is nothing more than code for cut."

At the same time, Governor Schwarzenegger has made clear that for him arts education remains a top priority. A story in the March 20, 2008 Orange County Register reported, "The governor said he also wants to give school districts more freedom in determining how to spend certain "categorical funds," money tied to specific programs and services, but not at the expense of money earmarked for "vital" programs like music, the arts, and physical education."

The likelihood is that these bills will remain where they are, in the Assembly Education Committee and not move forward in the legislative process. In his analysis of the bills, the Senior Education Committee Consultant Gerry Shelton wrote, "The issues raised in these bills should most appropriately be discussed in the context of budget actions that the House is considering." In other words, these issues are a component of the larger negotiation of the state budget.

In addition to those bills, the Legislative Analyst's Office has made its own proposals to increase district level spending flexibility of categorical funding, from the existing maximum of 15% to 50%. If enacted, this proposal would mean that only 50% of categorical funding would be protected to be used for the purpose for which it was intended, while the rest of the funding would be at the discretion of local education agencies. Similar proposals have been made in the past by the LAO, and have not gained traction in the legislature.

A final proposal for consolidation of categorical funding came yesterday from the Assembly Education Committee, AB2933. Recommendations that will flesh out a committee bill propose establishing "true" block grants, for use of program funds which encompass the 'spirit' of certain programs. In that grouping, 'arts and music' would be included within the "Pupil Support" Block Grant, along with other programs including "Existing School Library and Improvement" and "Instructional Materials."

The challenge we face in any proposed consolidation of funding into larger block grants is that a district may or may not choose to use those funds to fund arts education, depending on their priorities. Instead of a guarantee of funding, that decision will be left to the discretion of local officials. History suggests that arts education is frequently relegated to secondary status when competing with established priorities, such as instructional materials.

While lawmakers continue to discuss various priorities, it is important that we continue to raise our voices to support arts education. Last week over 420 of you sent letters to the Governor and legislators in response to our most recent "Call to Action." If you have not yet sent your letters, click here to go to California Alliance's Action Center. We will continue to keep you informed every step of the way, and will ask for your support when it is most needed.