School board chooses new superintendent; reveals dismal finances

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The board will not reveal the person’s name since the hire has not been finalized. Also, the district faces $3.6 million in cuts.

By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District has chosen a successor to outgoing Superintendent Tim Cuneo. The selection was made after the SMMUSD Board of Education interviewed finalists for the position at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica two weekends ago.

BOE member Ralph Mechur described the finalists as “a really wonderful group of education professionals.”

Boardmembers would not reveal the person’s name. Mechur said they are still reviewing some things, and BOE President Jose Escarce has said previously that a new superintendent would not be revealed until a contract has been finalized. If contract negotations are completed soon, the BOE could publicly reveal the new superintendent as soon as its April 23 meeting.

The candidate is believed to be a sitting superintendent at another school district. The next superintendent will be the fourth permanent one since 2006, and is expected to take over July 1. Outgoing Superintendent Cuneo is retiring in June.

A major concern for the new superintendent will be navigating the California budget crisis’ effect on the district’s finances. Those concerns were brought front and center at last week’s regular Board of Education meeting.

SMMUSD Chief Financial Officer Jan Maez announced that since Gov. Brown’s proposed tax extensions appear to have stalled in the Legislature, the district would lose $3.6 million in funding for next school year.

Brown was hoping to win five-year extensions to sales, vehicle and income taxes in order to balance next year’s state budget, but talks with Republican legislators broke down two weeks ago. Without the extensions, the Legislature is expected to compensate for the lost tax money by cuts to programs. Public schools receive much of their funding from Sacramento based on average daily attendance (ADA), or how often individual students attend school.

Maez said the district is going to lose at least $350 per student ADA without the tax extensions, which amounts to $3.6 million. Maez also ventured an “educated guess” as part of a worst-case scenario if the Legislature cuts more. Maez said she had heard discussions about public education possibly shouldering an additional $2 billion share in cuts. In that case, she predicted the district could lose another $300 per ADA on top of the original cut, bringing the total lost revenue to $650 per ADA or about $7 million.

If that scenario happened, the district would be forced to make broad cuts to an already reduced budget. SMMUSD must adopt a budget for the 2011-12 school year by June 30, before the Legislature settles its own budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

Cuneo has said that the Legislature would likely give school districts time to revise their budgets if the loss of state funding is significant.

Not all the news was bad.

Maez announced that the state government could pay for almost half of the $1.25 million in mental health costs thrust on the district this year by the county. If the state extended that offer into the future, the district’s burden for mental health services in subsequent years would be reduced from $3 million to $1.5 million. However, those discussions have not been finalized, Maez said.