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Civics & Democracy
Everything you need as you prepare to vote — study our interactive guides, ask questions, print your sample ballot and more.

Proposition 28 Results: California's Arts Education Ballot Measure Passes In Landslide

Live Results

California voters, by a wide margin, said yes to setting aside approximately $1 billion each year to fund new arts education programs in K-12 public schools.

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Understanding The Measure

Proposition 28's passage creates a new fund in the state budget dedicated to expanding arts education offering in schools, using money the state is already collecting in taxes.

The size of this new fund is tied to the amount of money appropriated to K-12 schools and community colleges each year and — like the rest of the state budget — would grow and shrink with the economy. This year, the amount of the arts education fund would be roughly $1 billion.

The passage of Prop. 28, requires schools to spend most of the money hiring new teachers. Advocates estimate the measure will open up 15,000 new full- or part-time positions teaching classes in a range of artistic disciplines, ranging from theater and dance to graphic design and computer coding.

If voters had rejected Prop. 28, schools would have still been free to fund arts education programs, but would not have received regular state funding earmarked for that purpose.

Want more? Read our full voter guide to Prop. 28

Spending So Far

Former L.A. Unified School District superintendent (and former investment banker) Austin Beutner is the primary financial backer of Proposition 28, followed by businessman Steve Ballmer and the California Teachers Association. The ballot measure had no organized opposition.

A Note On The Results

  • Keep in mind that in tight races particularly, the winner may not be determined for days or weeks after Election Day. In L.A. County, the first batch of results released includes vote by mail ballots received before Election Day, followed by early votes cast at vote centers before Election Day, then votes cast in-person on Election Day. This process is expected to wrap up in the early hours of Nov. 9. Then, additional results will be released following a schedule you can see on the county's site. In California, ballots postmarked on or before Nov. 8 are counted toward the results as long as they arrive within seven days of the election. Results must be certified by county election officials by Dec. 8.

Tracking Your Ballot

You can track the status of your ballot:

If your mail-in ballot is rejected for any reason (like a missing or mismatched signature), your county registrar must contact you to give you a chance to fix it. In Los Angeles County, the registrar will send you a notification by mail and you have until Nov. 28 to reply and "cure" your ballot.

How We're Covering This Election

  • Early voters and mail-in ballots have fundamentally reshaped how votes are counted and when election results are known.

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