On June 8, the California Secretary of State announced that an initiative to require additional funding for K-12 art and music education had qualified for the ballot. Californians for Arts and Music Education in Public Schools, the campaign sponsoring the initiative, submitted 1,030,221 signatures for verification in April. Counties conducted a random sample, and the secretary of state reported that 711,872 signatures were valid.
To qualify for the ballot, the campaign needed to submit 623,212 valid signatures, which is equal to 5% of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election.
The proposed law would require a minimum source of annual funding for K-12 public schools, including charter schools, to fund arts education programs. The annual minimum amount established by the law would be equal to, at minimum, 1% of the total state and local revenues that local education agencies received under Proposition 98 (1988) during the prior fiscal year. The minimum under the proposed law would be in addition to the funding required by Proposition 98. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the ballot initiative would likely result in increased spending of $800 million to $1 billion each fiscal year.
