Also, the Board of Education meets this week in Malibu, with the school district’s budget crisis on the agenda.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
With $750,000 on the line, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District could be forced to allow the district’s former Chief Financial Officer Winston Braham to speak with Santa Monica government officials. Board of Education President Kathy Wisnicki said the board discussed the issue with an attorney last week, and will do so again prior to Thursday’s board meeting.
“The board has discussed ways to satisfy the council members’ concerns,” Wisnicki said. “We believe it will be resolved by the end of the week.”
A clause in Braham’s resignation agreement that states he cannot speak with any third party about the district’s financial situation has aroused suspicion among Santa Monica City Council members, with some threatening to possibly reject the city’s staff recommendation to increase the annual municipal contribution to the district from $6.5 million to $7.2 million. The City Council is expected to vote on that increase next month.
Braham resigned shortly after refusing to endorse the proposed 5 percent raise for district teachers, which put him in opposition with Superintendent Dianne Talarico. Braham never publicly stated if he quit because of this disagreement.
Several Santa Monica Council members last week told The LookOut, a Santa Monica news Web site, that they said there appeared to be a lack of transparency within the school district.
“It’s important because I’m being asked to support giving money to the school district…and I’m concerned that there is some revelation that is not being revealed,” Councilmember Robert Holbrook was quoted as saying on the Web site.
Holbrook could not be reached for comment. Councilmember Herb Katz told The Malibu Times on Monday that he had been informed that day of a plan for city staff members and possibly one council member to meet with Braham. Katz said he would like this to happen so the matter could be resolved and he could vote for the contribution increase.
“We just want to know what’s going on,” Katz said.
The issue of the gag order on Braham’s resignation first came up at a February Santa Monica City Council meeting when Council member Bobby Shriver and Holbrook said they were troubled by the resignation agreement, which includes Braham receiving $190,000. Holbrook said it appeared Braham had been paid not to talk and Shriver told The LookOut after the meeting that the city’s contribution to the district “won’t grow” unless the SMMUSD “[did] things in a transparent way.”
At the time, district officials said there was no reason for Braham to speak with Santa Monica officials because he was no longer working for the district, and was not up to date on district financial issues. They have not changed their stance.
“The district is so far away from where we were during the departure of Mr. Braham [in November], we would be talking about old news,” Deputy Superintendent Tim Walker said.
Prior to Braham’s departure, the Los Angeles County Office of Education notified the school district that the SMMUSD could not afford the pay raise unless it made some budget adjustments. Shortly after Braham left, the SMMUSD hired a consultant to analyze how it could afford the raise. After receiving the analysis, budget adjustments were made, and the three-year contract with the teachers was approved in March.
Now the district is facing a new crisis. Beginning next fiscal year, it is projected to spend more money than it brings in. It has enough money in its reserve to cover the estimated $434,000 shortfall, but the gap between revenue and expenditures widens the following year and the year after that. And by 2009-10, it is estimated that the district will not have enough money in its reserve to cover its deficit spending. Not only will there not be enough money to make up for a $4.1 million deficit, the district will also not have the money to maintain the state-mandated 3 percent reserve fund, which would approximately need to be $3.6 million.
The financial projections also assume that a $6.4 million parcel tax expiring in 2009 will be renewed by voters and that there will be no pay raises for employees who are not teachers.
The Board of Education is meeting this Thursday at Malibu City Hall. The major agenda item is a discussion on the proposed budget for next fiscal year. It includes a plan to cut 26 full-time teaching positions. This does not mean any instructors would be laid-off, but rather that some teachers who leave the district would not be replaced.