The Poway Unified School District (PUSD) arts programs will be receiving millions of dollars in funding from the state over the course of the next several years until 2026.

The state of California recently approved a block grant to PUSD that would give extra financial resources to visual and performing arts programs for schools throughout the district at a total of around $20 million. The grant comes after California voters passed Proposition 28, which will provide additional arts and music education funding from the state General Fund and may signal a new era of visual and performing arts support throughout the state. This recent grant has been called the Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials Discretionary Block Grant. The details of the grant were presented at the Board of Education meeting on Sept. 13 by Associate Superintendent Ron Little. 

In the presentation, Little outlined the main purposes of the grant, as noted by the California Department of Education (CDE), which included obtaining more instructional materials for certain subjects and other operational cost increases, including retirement and healthcare. Because the state labeled the grant as “discretionary,” the district has more flexibility to utilize the funds to target more specific needs at each school. Little said that this freedom was agreed upon after a compromise between state legislators.

“The history of the grant is interesting,” Little said. “As they were debating how much money to give schools and for what, there was a group of legislators who wanted to focus primarily on arts and music, and there were other legislators who said schools need a little more flexibility and the ability to spend these funds on whatever they prioritize locally. So, in the end, what they got was a hybrid between the two different camps.”

The final agreement allows PUSD to allocate funds between facilities needs and the arts at their discretion.

“These are one-time grant funds to be expended over a four-year period for the purposes of the CDE,” Little said. “In reality, the funds can be used virtually for any operational purpose approved by the Board of Education.”

Based on the current expenditure plan, which was included in the presentation to the Board, about $6.7 million would be allocated towards spending for facilities upgrades, such as improved ventilation systems. 

“We have some high-priority facilities needs, especially around safety and security—things like fencing, cameras, security monitoring systems, and additional LED lighting,” Little said.

The remaining money would be divided between sections of the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Programs. One of the categories of the VAPA Programs is for high school arts facilities such as Westview’s theater. In this budgeting plan, the theater will receive upgrades to the current sound and lighting systems as well as some changes to the stage.

“Of the $12.9 million that is allocated to our VAPA Programs, [there would be] $3.9 million set aside to upgrade our performing arts centers at four of our high schools [in the district]: Mt. Carmel, Rancho Bernardo, Westview, and Del Norte,” Little said.

Theater technician member Thomas Andrade (11) said he supports the funding for changes in the theater and anticipates certain fixes that have been long awaited by theater members.

“The curtains onstage are all really old and water-damaged,” Andrade said. “Also, some of the wood flooring on the stage itself is popping up and creaking when you step on it.”

In addition, there are several chairs in the audience seating that are broken and unusable, and pieces of wood have chipped off from the edge of the stage. However, despite the pressing issues in Westview’s theater, the district plan stated that it will focus on revamping the lights and sound systems. Westview theater teacher Robert Townsend said he can see why Westview may not receive as much funding, but still wishes for the concerns to be addressed.

“I think the district’s opinion is that Westview is a little bit better off than some of the older schools,” Townsend said. “So, some of the really urgent things that we need are not being addressed right now because other schools seem to need it more. But, in our performing arts groups, not having working seats or not having fire resistant curtains are very important concerns [to me].” 

Some performing arts teachers from the district have raised concerns about the new grant and where its funds will be directed. Westview GOLD director Mitchell Way said he has concerns regarding how the budget will be spent considering the needs of the arts programs at Westview.

“Apparently a lot more of it is being used to cover budget shortfalls, rather than actual funding replacements and improvements for the arts programs in general,” Way said. 

In the end, Way said he would advocate for the grant to be spent solely on performing arts-related problems, while the district and facilities issues be resolved by a different source.

“We need new chairs and stands, we badly need new sousaphones, and all of our mallet instruments are falling apart because they’re roughly 20 years old,” Way said. “[Funding these replacements] was the intent of the expenditure, but what they might be doing with it instead is using it to cover budget shortfalls.”

Though the budget may not completely cover theater issues, Townsend said he anticipates the changes that will be made.

“I hope that we don’t lose any funding from the state,” Townsend said. “That’s always a risk when they look at the budget. But I’m just excited to see when these improvements happen.”