I've got a kid in public school in not quite the South Bay, and I would say that schools vary wildly from district to district. At our school, we have a great music and PE program; there is a small art program run by the PTA, although I think most teachers try to have a frequent in-room art class.
I was able to push for individual subject acceleration for DS eventually, but it was difficult and not well supported (and now we're homeschooling him, if that tells you anything!) I know our school has supported whole-grade acceleration in certain circumstances, but it's extremely infrequent.
Our school fundraising is pretty non-pressured; I've had friends in other districts tell me they're *expected* to donate many hundreds of dollars to the school. Here, we can hope for it, but certainly don't expect it (or make public knowledge who donated).
Our district lets kids out about 90 minutes early once a week, so it's not really a half day. This was the same as the private school I went to briefly in NYC, so not a strictly Californian phenomenon. And considering the weather here is so nice so much of the time, it's 90 more minutes to spend outside playing.
Keep in mind that all of California is in the process of moving over to Common Core (supposedly all public schools are taking the CC and STAR tests next spring, followed by CC only in 2015). This means lots of changes in curriculum, stressed out teachers and administrators, and possibly not a lot of time, energy, or interest in trying to accommodate a 2E (or otherwise not middle-of-the-road) kid.
(PM me if you have more specific questions about my district.)
