Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 14

Introduced by Senator Fuller

January 27, 2015

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 14—Relative to arts education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 14, as introduced, Fuller. Arts Education Month.

This measure would proclaim March 2015 to be Arts Education Month and would encourage all elected officials to participate with their educational communities in celebrating the arts.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, Arts education, which includes dance, music,
theatre, and the visual arts, is an essential and integral part of basic
education for all pupils in prekindergarten, kindergarten, and grades
1 to 12, inclusive; and

WHEREAS, 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; and

WHEREAS, 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; and

WHEREAS, 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, and preparation for the workplace
and lifelong learning; and

WHEREAS, Arts education in California is mandated for pupils
in grades 1 to 12, inclusive, by Sections 51210 and 51220 of the
Education Code, 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”; and

WHEREAS, 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;
and

WHEREAS, In 2006 the Legislature passed and former
Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a landmark investment
in music and arts education programs, including a block grant of
$105,000,000 to support standards-aligned instruction in
kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive; and

WHEREAS, In 2006 the Legislature also passed and former
Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law an additional
$500,000,000 to be distributed on a one-time basis for the purchase
of visual and performing arts and physical education professional
development supplies and equipment; and

WHEREAS, In 2007, this ongoing investment in arts education
plus a cost of living increase was passed by the Legislature and
signed into law by former Governor Schwarzenegger; and

WHEREAS, It is the intent that this funding help implement a
comprehensive vision for arts education at the local level, to ensure
that every pupil in California benefits from this investment; and

WHEREAS, This funding is the first step in investing in quality
visual and performing arts programs for all California pupils; and

WHEREAS, 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;
now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California
proclaims the month of March 2015 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; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.