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Arts educators seek helping hand, straight from your tax form
Students prepare for a class at McKinley Elementary School in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
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Arts educators seek helping hand, straight from your tax form
For the second year in a row, Californians have a chance to support arts education funding while filing their taxes.
With Wednesday's deadline looming, taxpayers can choose to make voluntary contributions of $1 or more on the state personal income tax return form.
The effort called the "Keep Arts in Schools Fund" followed Gov. Jerry Brown's approval of a bill in 2013 paving the way for taxpayers to donate to arts education.
RELATED: Arts education donations make a comeback on California's tax return form
The contributions go directly to arts education programs, said Caitlin Fitzwater, a California Arts Council public information officer. The fund is one of the council's primary sources of revenue, along with a statewide arts license plate program that raises money for arts in the schools.
For the arts education donation option to remain on the tax form in future years, a minimum of $250,000 must be raised this year. Last year, there was no minimum requirement, and donations totaled $256,421. Donations through March of this year are down 7 percent compared to last year.
Minimums have gone unmet in the past. In the 2011 tax year, contributions to what was then called the "Arts Council Fund" didn't reach the $250,000 required threshold and the option was left off the tax form in 2012. The choice to contribute to arts education was restored with approval of the 2013 measure.
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Details on how to donate to the arts via the state tax form are available on the California Arts Council's website. Tax returns must be postmarked by Wednesday.
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