LAUSD Arts Education

Overview

In 1999 the Los Angeles Unified School District took a historic leadership role in restoring standards based arts education by adopting a ten year plan and hiring key implementation staff. Well before the historic Arts and Music Block Grant, LAUSD has invtested millions of dollars (see a complete breakdown here) in its committment to reinsteate arts education for all students in four content areas, dance, music, theatre and the visual arts.  This investement focused on three ctirical areas: 

• Classroom Instruction
• Teacher Development
• ACPN Community Partnerships

LAUSD has become a national model for restoring arts education.  In 2008, the District recevied a $600,000 award from the Wallace Foundation to create the next ten year arts education plan. However, the award arrived at the same time as the District appointed new leadership and the national economic crisis hit which deeply affected the State of California.  The ripple affect of this crisis hit LAUSD hard and it is currently struggling to close a budget shortfall that exceeds $600 million dollars.