Senate Concurrent Resolution
No. 82
CHAPTER 26
Relative to arts education.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
April 29, 2008.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 82, Maldonado.
Arts Education Month.
This measure would declare March 2008 to be Arts Education Month and would encourage all elected officials to participate with their educational communities in celebrating the arts.
Digest Key
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 Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a landmark investment in music and arts education programs, including a block grant of one hundred five million dollars ($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 Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law an additional five hundred million dollars ($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 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 proclaims the month of March 2008 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.