Obscure state law requires all students be taught the arts
Mary Plummer/KPCC
Calabasas High School musical theater students perform "Cool" from their production of West Side Story at the Pantages Theater.
As budgets worsened over the past several years, schools throughout California cut where they could, slashing arts budgets so deeply some students have been left with no arts education at all.
Arts educator Carl Schafer of Upland, has been on a campaign to increase that instruction for a year. And in his effort, he found a line in the California education code that shocked him: the state requires arts to be taught to California students.
He'd been advocating for arts education for decades without realizing the state has a law requiring things like dance, music and theater be taught in schools.
He recently wrote about his discovery for the website Zocalo Public Square.
While browsing through the state Education Code online, I learned (embarrassingly late in my career) that the law couldn’t be clearer. Since 1995, the teaching of the arts has been mandatory in California for grades one to 12.Section 51210(e) mandates the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA), which includes music, dance, visual art, and theater, be included in the school curriculum for all
