Show business in California is stalwart in supporting political causes, but rarely does the industry turn on the wattage for, say, a school-finance ballot initiative.
Enter Proposition 28, which would channel about $1 billion in additional state money each year into public schools for arts and music instruction. The creators of “Everybody Loves Raymond” chipped in $1 million to back the proposal. Christina Aguilera recently opened her house for a $50,000-a-plate fund-raiser. Barbra Streisand, Katy Perry, Graham Nash, Lenny Kravitz, Earth Wind & Fire and Sheryl Lee Ralph of “Abbott Elementary,” among others, have done social media endorsements. The actor Sean Astin has rallied SAG-AFTRA around it. And that’s not to mention the Microsoft billionaire Steve Ballmer and the California State P.T.A.
Currently cruising toward passage, the measure arises from a familiar complaint and a less conventional confluence of forces. Arts and music programs were eviscerated in many California school districts when state funding was slashed during the 2008 financial crisis; in many low-income communities, the programs have yet to recover.
The movement to provide secure financing for them arose from the only-in-Los Angeles contact list of Austin Beutner, a philanthropist and former venture capitalist, who was helming the Los Angeles Unified School District when the pandemic hit.
As classrooms closed in 2020 to curb the spread of Covid-19, hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles school children, most of them from low-income families, were switched to remote instruction. To keep them engaged, Beutner reached out to prominent business and creative people, including his own affluent friends and neighbors, for ideas.
The responses included a Snapchat book club led by Alicia Keys; a course on the Titanic aided by the director James Cameron; art classes created with Illumination Entertainment; and free guitar lessons on thousands of instruments provided by Fender. By the time Beutner stepped down as superintendent in June 2021, the district had started two schools meant to help diversify the region’s entertainment work force, with backing from the music producers Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine and a group of entertainers led by George Clooney.
By winter, the campaign for Proposition 28 was underway, with Beutner as a leading donor and a bandwagon of show-business support. “We pay attention when friends call,” Iovine said.
I caught up with Beutner at Santa Monica High School, where he was moderating a panel discussion with Dre, Iovine, the rapper Lil Baby and their business adviser, Paul Wachter. “I don’t know whose idea it was to take arts and music out of schools, but I’m a prime example of why it should be here,” Dre told the wildly applauding audience.
Here’s some of my conversation with Beutner, condensed and edited.
How do you know Lil Baby?
I know people who know people. Actually, he works with Paul Wachter, who I met through Arnold Schwarzenegger, like, 15 years ago. Paul is Arnold’s investment adviser. Arnold, I’ve known for so long, I forget how we met.
Networking seems to have so much to do with this ballot measure. Or was it the pandemic?
The head of Illumination Entertainment, Chris Meledandri, and I went to college together. The board chair of Snap, I’ve known for 30 years since we lived in New York together. But it’s more about the shared history of getting stuff done, among people who have been in the trenches together. Jimmy and Dre I got to know working on their school project. The Fender people helped in schools during the pandemic.
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What will Proposition 28 do if it passes?
This provides ongoing funding for arts and music in all schools, without raising taxes. California law requires that about 40 percent of the state budget be set aside for education. This requires that an additional 0.4 percent be set aside to pay for art and music programs out of the general fund.
Doesn’t that take a pretty big budget decision away from elected legislators?
Yes, and the ends justify the means. In Sacramento, as a practical matter, those with the loudest voices get their needs met, and families who are struggling to get by unfortunately don’t get heard much.
This initiative is a little like the one Schwarzenegger led in 2002 to channel money into after-school programs.
Yeah, we actually learned from that initiative. It helped us get a lot of things right about Prop. 28.
Schwarzenegger was running for governor then. Are you running for something?
No, I am not running for public office. I’m a public-school kid — the son of an immigrant and a public-school teacher — who has lived the American dream. When Prop. 28 passes, it will create a brighter future for six million public-school kids in California. That’s my reward.
For more:
Shawn Hubler is a California correspondent for The Times and is based in Sacramento.
Where we’re traveling
Today’s tip comes from Richard Rothman, who recommends a site in northern San Francisco:
“My favorite place to visit is the New Deal Murals in Coit Tower in San Francisco. This is a collection of artwork from 1930 which put artists to work. The murals are open to the public free of charge. San Francisco City Guides gives tours of the mural on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10 a.m., but you need to make a reservation in advance.”
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.
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And before you go, some good news
A Los Angeles lottery player will win $790,000 after matching the first five numbers of the Powerball draw.
The winner, who was not identified, bought the winning ticket at 777 Market on La Brea Avenue in the Mid-City neighborhood. Another lotto player won $790,000 at a Chevron gas station in Visalia. The two California winners were among eight others across the country to hit five of the six numbers.
“We’re feeling very lucky about the store,” Mohammed Akram, the owner of 777 Market, told The Los Angeles Times.
Thanks for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow.
P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.
Soumya Karlamangla, Briana Scalia and Maia Coleman contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.
