Under federal law signed by President George W. Bush and California law enacted by 64.4% of California voters (Proposition 28), Visual and Performing Arts are a statutory Core Academic Subject equal to Mathematics, Science, and English Language Arts.
Our Core Mission: Art taught according to the California State Arts Curriculum in every school, enforced through institutional Checks and Balances.
When school administrators call Art a "special," an "elective extra," or a "prep-period relief slot," they are violating both federal statutory definitions and California Education Code. Here is the exact law.
On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the landmark federal education act (Public Law 107-110, Title IX, Section 9101(11)), establishing the binding federal statutory definition of Core Academic Subjects across the United States:
The 10 Federal Core Academic Subjects (Equal Under Federal Law):
Under California Education Code § 51210(a)(5) (Grades 1–6) and § 51220(g) (Grades 7–12), Visual and Performing Arts have always been a mandatory part of California's core course of study. Yet for years, districts starved arts budgets and treated Art as a disposable "special."
| System Standard | ❌ Illegal "Art as a Special" Practice | ✅ Statutory "Art as a Core Curriculum" Mandate |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Legal Status | Demoted to an optional "special," Friday craft hour, or teacher prep-period coverage. | Enforced as a statutory Core Academic Subject under President George W. Bush's federal law (P.L. 107-110) and CA Ed. Code §§ 51210 & 51220. |
| 2. Curriculum Alignment | Disconnected projects with no California State Arts Standards progression. | Taught sequentially TK–12 according to the official California Arts Standards (Creating, Presenting/Performing, Responding, Connecting). |
| 3. Weekly Frequency | Sporadic, canceled, or limited to occasional short rotations. | Delivered every single week across all arts disciplines (e.g., the Burnt Ranch 2-Full-Days/Week Standard). |
| 4. Educator Leadership | Unmentored or uncredentialed placement while credentialed arts teachers are blocked or sidelined. | Led by a California Credentialed Arts Teacher—or a dedicated teacher selected and trained directly by the Credentialed Arts Teacher. |
| 5. Prop 28 Funds (Resource 6770) | Hoarded unspent in district reserves, diverted to non-arts uses, or hidden from site principals and parents. | 100% deployed for student arts instruction, teacher training, and studio/ceramic/garden materials with full CPA & public audit transparency. |
Look across Northern California and you will find the exact working blueprint at Burnt Ranch Elementary School District. Families actively choose Burnt Ranch Elementary because it is the model school that uses its arts funding properly and delivers all the arts every single week.
Teaching Art as a Core Subject means following the official California Arts Standards for Public Schools (Prekindergarten Through Grade 12) adopted by the State Board of Education. Click any grade span below to view the required State Curriculum standards:
Mandatory sequential instruction across Visual Arts, Music, Theatre, and Dance—developing fine-motor mastery, spatial reasoning, color theory, clay/ceramic hand-building, and cultural literacy.
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas; organize studio work in drawing, painting, printmaking, and ceramic clay modeling; refine work through peer feedback.
Select, preserve, and prepare 2D and 3D student artworks for schoolwide gallery exhibitions and permanent campus installations.
Perceive and analyze visual imagery; interpret artistic intent; apply age-appropriate criteria to evaluate works of art.
Connect studio art to natural science, local watershed ecology, mathematics, geometry, and California/Indigenous cultural history.
Rigorous studio investigation bridging elementary discovery and high school mastery: perspective drawing, ceramic glazing & kiln firing, sculpture, digital/media design, and collaborative public art.
proportional anatomy, architectural perspective, wheel/hand-built ceramics, glaze chemistry, and structural 3D design.
Students design and install permanent school beautification works, learning museum curation and public presentation standards.
Formal critique using elements of art and principles of design; analyzing media messages and contemporary visual culture.
Integrating botanical illustration, soil/glaze mineral science, and regional cultural heritage into core studio portfolios.
Fulfills mandatory California High School Graduation & UC/CSU "F" Visual and Performing Arts requirements, credit recovery, and Career Technical Education (CTE) Arts, Media & Design pathways.
Sustained investigation in fine art, ceramics, mosaic tile fabrication, architectural relief, and environmental design.
Student-co-designed permanent campus ceramic mosaics, murals, and outdoor living classroom architecture.
Hands-on, competency-based VAPA & Elective credit completion tailored for comprehensive and continuation high school students.
Real-world project budgeting, material estimation, public arts commissioning, and vocational artisan skills.
When two neighboring rural schools within a district each have modest individual Proposition 28 allocations—while flagship campuses already have dedicated art and vocational staff—combining unused Resource 6770 funds and supplemental grants creates a Split-Site Credentialed Visual Arts Position:
2–3 days/week of sequential California State Standards Visual Arts instruction, ceramics, drawing, painting, and seasonal exhibitions.
2 days/week leading student-co-designed Hand-Built Ceramic Mosaics & Biodynamic Living Campus Gardens for VAPA graduation credit.
Complements and celebrates existing art and vocational educators at other district campuses—zero displacement, 100% additive student support.
Funded entirely through unused SACS Resource 6770 funds and supplemental 501(c)(3) grants at $0 cost to the district General Fund.
When accountability depends on one person speaking up alone, bureaucracies retaliate. When accountability is built into a 6-Point Institutional Checks & Balances System, compliance becomes automatic, transparent, and retaliation-proof.
Bush Core Law (P.L. 107-110) + CA Voter Prop 28 ($1B Resource 6770) establish legal duty.
Principal (EC § 8820(f)(1)) + School Site Council approve site State-Curriculum Arts Plan.
Deploy Burnt Ranch 2-Day/Wk Mentor Model or Two-School Split Credentialed Art Position.
SACS Resource 6770 locks 80%+ in classroom staffing, ≤20% materials, ≤1% admin, 0% supplanting.
Annual public report (EC § 8820(g)(4)), CPA review, 10-day records audit & anti-retaliation law.
Replaces ad-hoc "specials" with sequential TK–12 instruction aligned to the California State Arts Curriculum. Every student receives graded, standards-based Visual & Performing Arts instruction every week.
P.L. 107-110 Sec. 9101(11) • CA Ed. Code §§ 51210 & 51220Proposition 28 purposefully vests expenditure planning authority in the School Site Principal (for schools with 500+ students or rural site plans), preventing county or central office bureaucracies from blocking site-level arts partnerships.
CA Education Code § 8820(f)(1)All Proposition 28 funds are isolated in SACS Resource Code 6770. Districts must certify annually that 0% of funds were used to supplant existing state/local funds, at least 80% funded arts staffing, and central admin took no more than 1%.
CA Education Code § 8820(g)(1)–(3)When training new rural arts teachers or expanding from 1 to 2+ days/week, a California Credentialed Visual/Performing Arts Educator selects and trains the incoming teacher—ensuring authentic State Curriculum mastery.
CTC Credential Standards • Burnt Ranch ModelEvery LEA must submit a Board-approved annual report to the California Department of Education and post it on its public website showing the exact number of full-time equivalent arts teachers, students served, and unspent Resource 6770 carryover at each school site.
CA Education Code § 8820(g)(4)Educators, parents, and oversight partners are protected by California's 10-day statutory personnel/public records disclosure laws and strict statutory prohibitions against retaliatory blocking, blacklisting, or adverse action for reporting curriculum or fiscal non-compliance.
Ed. Code §§ 44031 & 44110 • Labor Code §§ 1102.5 & 1198.5 • Gov. Code § 7922.530