The change would take away personnel and programing fundraising from local PTAs and give it the district education foundation, which would then distribute funds among all district schools.
By Paul Sisolak / Special to The Malibu Times
Parents and PTA members pleaded with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education at its meeting last week to consider rejecting a policy change that could weaken the fundraising leverage of local Parent Teacher Associations.
Thursday’s meeting at Malibu City Hall was the first of two sessions to discuss a district-wide fundraising plan. The plan contains a proposal with potential to take away the ability of PTAs to raise funds for personnel and programming needs, while putting those efforts in charge of the district’s Education Foundation. The new model could give the foundation authority to take money raised by higher-income PTAs at Malibu schools and divert those funds to lower-income schools in Santa Monica.
Supporters say this type of change is needed because schools that raise more money through their PTAs are able to provide better classes and programs to students that others cannot. The new policy, they say, would help create economic parity by helping to close the widening achievement gap.
Those against the plan believe it is unfair to take the PTA money from schools that raise more. Opponents who showed up at last week’s meeting, mostly comprised of Malibu parents and PTA members, said it would level the achievement gap only by lowering the standards of schools that excel in funding and academics. They also called the plan rushed, unclear and lacking in transparency. Some vowed to withdraw their support and stop donating money to PTAs if the change goes through the Board of Education at the end of this month.
Board members, minus Ben Allen, who was absent, and Ralph Mechur, who recused himself due to a conflict of interest, heard from more than 40 speakers whose disapproval of the fundraising plan stemmed from a feeling of betrayal to local PTAs and their members.
Kim Bonewitz, PTA president of Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, said her group has halted their fundraising efforts since news of the SMMUSD plan spread.
“This plan does not make sense,” she said. “It’s too much to ask for each community to put all their money in one pot.”
Marty King, a parent and volunteer at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School, said, “What I’d like to see this program be for everyone is a win-win program. It doesn’t seem like an equitable position, what you’re proposing. I don’t want to see this as a detriment to those of us who put in a lot of our time.”
A majority of parents agreed on one point in particular: the fundraising plan, they said, seems hurried and incomplete. It also substitutes, they said, the needs of children for those of policymakers.
Amy Young, a co-vice president of the Malibu High School PTA, called the district board’s procedure a “shrouded rush to the table.”
“This is no time to be making political decisions,” she said. “This is about the children. Period.”
In an in-depth presentation, SMMUSD Superintendent Sandra Lyon said the fundraising plan would compensate for a number of financial disparities currently facing the district. State funding for Santa Monica and Malibu schools was reduced last year by 19 percent, reverting the SMMUSD back to 2005-2006 budget levels. Locally, PTAs did an exemplary job raising money in the 2009-2010 school year, just under $4 million total, but from school to school, the money is distributed unevenly. The average cost per student on the elementary school level ranges, according to the presentation, from a high figure of $1,100 to a low $65. The Education Foundation raises an annual $400,000 to $500,000.
By contrast, Lyon said that school districts in both Manhattan Beach and Palo Alto, which have similar district-wide fundraising models, successfully garner more than $1 million per year and are the example of what Santa Monica and Malibu could be.
Critics of the plan, though, remained skeptical and said that a few simple case studies could not justify changing SMMUSD’s current fundraising strategies.
“The only thing that’s painfully apparent is that there’s not sufficient information to make an intelligent decision,” Mike Sidley, a Malibu High parent and former Malibu City Council candidate, said.
The board’s plan did have some supporters at the meeting, who said the time right to amend the district’s gifts policy. Sally Miller, PTA president at Will Rogers Elementary School, said that some schools in the district wouldn’t be able to catch up without financial help.
“The status quo is working for some schools, but not the whole district,” she said.
Lauri Crane bemoaned how the SMMUSD has fallen behind other school districts. Neighborhood demographics, she said, have led to huge disparities.
“The time to take action is now,” Crane said. “This is the right time for this district to make this change.”
Board members hinted at their approval of the plan, which they’ll return to discuss further on Nov. 17.
“There really isn’t a perfect approach,” said Board member Laurie Lieberman. “But to me, this is a sensible approach.”
Lieberman said starting a district-wide fundraising initiative doesn’t mean PTA volunteer efforts need to go away.
“I just don’t believe district-wide fundraising for personnel and programming needs to kill off private fundraising,” she said. “The only way that will happen is if we allow it to happen.”
Board President Jose Escarce said he supports the proposal “wholeheartedly.”
“The disparities in our district are too large to ignore,” he said.
Both he and board member Nimish Patel agreed that it is not a decision to be taken lightly for the school district.
“My brain is saying that if you’re going to do this, you better do this right Š These are high stakes we’re playing with,” Patel said.
The board’s next meeting to discuss district-wide fundraising, on Nov. 17, will take place at 6 p.m. in the district headquarters meeting room, 1651 16th St., Santa Monica.