An overflow crowd of Malibu citizens as well as all five Malibu City Council members attended and stayed to the bitter end of last week’s SMMUSD school board meeting. Being discussed that evening was nothing less than the future of Malibu’s public schools. An evenly split six-member group of Malibu and Santa Monica’s financially brightest citizens (MUNC) presented a report two years in the making on the fiscal impacts of separate Malibu and Santa Monica school districts. In addition, the school board received a report from a hired gun (School Services), which validated the MUNC proposal as well as offered another viable alternative. In each proposal, independent Malibu and Santa Monica districts would thrive among the top five percent in school funding in the state.
The school board’s response: “Are you sure you really wanna go?”
On Nov. 16, the school board is scheduled to vote on the financial reports and the future of Malibu’s public schools. Come out and show the board our community is united in the desire for local control.
Carl Randall