UCLA

The purpose of this qualitative, multi-site case study was to examine how the introduction of California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) contributed to a change in arts education at the district level at two Los Angeles County school districts that included arts education in their Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP). In addition, this study sought to understand the factors that contributed to the inclusion of arts education in the districts’ LCAP as well as understanding how arts education teachers experienced changes to their work.

The findings of this study are based on document analysis, 150 arts education teacher questionnaire responses, and interviews with six district-level decision-makers and 24 arts education teachers. This study found that arts education teachers at both research sites, California Redwood School District and Golden Poppy School District, believed that LCFF implementation had positively impact arts education at the district level and that their respective districts had increased their support of arts education as a result of LCFF. Arts education teachers largely credited district leadership and LCFF for increased support in the form of additional arts education teachers and funding available for supplies and resources. However, the school-level findings varied greatly between the two sites. Arts education teachers at California Redwood perceived less of an impact on arts education programs at the school-level when compared to the district-level, whereas Golden Poppy arts education teachers maintained a positive perception of LCFF. In particular, arts education teachers within California Redwood expressed strong skepticism about the level of support for arts education among school site instructional leaders, whereas Golden Poppy teachers did not share this sentiment. The findings suggest a need to improve communication between district-level personnel and arts education teachers so that each district can clearly communicate LCFF goals to all stakeholders within each district and positively impact arts education access for their students.