BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | ACR 26|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: ACR 26
Author: Davis (D), et al
Amended: 4/2/09 in Assembly
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Read and adopted, 4/2/09
SUBJECT : Arts Education Month
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution proclaims March 2009 to be Arts
Education Month and encourages all elected officials to
participate with their educational communities in
celebrating the arts.
ANALYSIS : This resolution proclaims the month of March
2009 as Arts Education Month and encourages all elected
officials to participate with their educational communities
in celebrating the arts with meaningful activities and
programs for pupils, teachers, and the public that
demonstrate learning and understanding in the visual and
performing arts, and urges all residents to become
interested in and give full support to quality school arts
programs for children and youth. Specifically, this
resolution makes the following legislative findings:
1. Arts education, which includes dance, music, theatre,
CONTINUED
ACR 26
Page
2
and the visual arts, is an essential and integral part
of basic education for all pupils in pre-kindergarten,
kindergarten, and grades 1 to 12, inclusive.
2. The arts are crucial to achieving a state educational
policy that is devoted to the teaching of basic academic
skills and lifelong learning capacities with the goal of
truly preparing all children for success after high
school regardless of gender, age, economic status,
physical ability, or learning ability.
3. A systematic, substantive, and sequential visual and
performing arts curriculum addresses and develops ways
of thinking, questioning, expression, and learning that
complement learning in other core subjects, but that is
unique in what it has to offer.
4. Pupils benefit from arts learning in the areas of
cultural understanding, readiness for learning and
creative thinking, cognitive outcomes, emotional
intelligence and expression, social interaction and
collaboration, preparation for the workplace and
lifelong learning.
5. Arts education in California is mandated for pupils in
grades 1 to 12, inclusive, by Education Code Sections
51210 and 51220, which provide, in part, "[t]he adopted
course of study ... shall include instruction ... in
[v]isual and performing arts including instruction in
the subjects of dance, music, theatre, and visual arts,
aimed at the development of aesthetic appreciation and
the skills of creative expression."
6. The arts are recognized as part of a quality education,
and the University of California and the California
State University have instituted a policy that includes
visual and performing arts as a college preparatory
subject for all high school pupils wishing to enter
California's institutions of higher education.
7. In 2006, the Legislature passed and Governor
Schwarzenegger signed into law a landmark investment in
music and arts education programs, including a block
grant of $105 million to support standards-aligned
CONTINUED
ACR 26
Page
3
instruction in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12,
inclusive.
8. In 2006, the Legislature also passed and Governor
Schwarzenegger signed into law an additional $500
million to be distributed on a one-time basis for the
purchase of visual and performing arts and physical
education professional development supplies and
equipment.
9. The Legislature intends this funding to help implement a
comprehensive vision for arts education at the local
level, to ensure that every pupil in California benefits
from this investment.
10. Many national and state professional arts education
associations hold celebrations in the month of March,
giving California schools a unique opportunity to focus
on the value of the arts for all pupils, to foster
cross-cultural understanding, to give recognition to the
state's outstanding young artists, and to enhance public
support for this essential part of the curriculum.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/13/09)
California Arts Advocates
California Alliance for Arts Education
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Arts Advocates
states that, "To succeed in today's economy of ideas,
students must master the use of words, images, sounds and
motion to communicate. The arts provide the skills and
knowledge students need to develop the creativity and
determination necessary to succeed in today's global
information age."
California Alliance for Arts Education further states the
need for this resolution, adding that while the arts are
considered one of the core subjects in the No Child Left
Behind law, and public opinion polls and numerous research
CONTINUED
ACR 26
Page
4
articles support the instrumental benefits of arts
education, arts education programs statewide are threatened
by the current budget crisis. "The new state budget
reduces the block grant by 15 percent this year, and an
additional 4.9 percent next year. More important, it gives
districts full discretion about allocating these funds.
Already, school board hearings are taking place in
districts across the state, slashing arts and music
programs amid protest from parents, students, educators and
other art education advocates."
RJG:nl 5/13/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED