Parents and other SMMUSD activists gear up for a fundraising campaign, while district officials consider proposing another parcel tax measure in the future.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
It was a close call, but the school district funding item, Measure A, failed to garner the necessary two-thirds support for passage. An additional 500 votes were needed to reach the two-thirds threshold required for passage. The unofficial results show 13,671 votes (64.25 percent) in favor and 7,607 votes in opposition. With the $5.7 million Measure A would have generated no longer on the table, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District must come up with other ways to cut the eight-figure deficit it faces next year. While district officials explore possible ongoing funding solutions, including a new parcel tax measure, a fundraising campaign has begun.
The district Board of Education met for two nights last week following the tax measure’s defeat. At those meetings, board members finalized a list of $7.1 million worth of budget cuts. A previous proposal had reductions at $8.9 million, but the SMMUSD will defer some maintenance projects to allow for fewer cuts. The board will vote on a final budget June 18. The district is facing a deficit due to a reduction in the money it receives from the state, its largest funding source.
“This is the worst I have ever seen it,” said Board of Education member Oscar de la Torre, who was on the board when the district had to make severe cuts following the last failure of a parcel tax measure in 2002. “I’ve never seen it this bad. And the cuts are damaging to what we expect for our public education system.”
Among the reductions are the elimination of classroom teaching positions (both through layoffs and by not replacing teachers leaving due to retirement and other reasons) to bring the student-teacher ratio from 23:1 to 27:1 for K-3 classes and from 33:1 to 35:1 for secondary schools. Other adjustments included the elimination of seven counselor positions, including two at Malibu High School; cutting of funding for reading specialists; elimination of elementary school library coordinators; elimination of two districtwide nursing positions and a reduction of four elementary school music positions.
A group of parents and other SMMUSD activists met last week with the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money for the district, about doing a fundraising campaign. SMMEF Executive Director Linda Gross said there has been a large outpouring of support, and another meeting is expected to take place this week on Wednesday. At that time, the group will establish a time line and a fundraising goal amount. Gross said the tentative goal is to raise enough money to cover what would have been received through Measure A.
For now, money donated to the SMMEF will go toward increasing classroom teacher positions. The board this week will consider opportunity for donors to designate their money to other specific programs such as elementary school music or library coordinators. People would not be allowed to designate their funds for a specific school.
“Sixty-four percent of the people still supported our public schools, so we’re going to reach out to those people and try to raise some money with a big campaign,” said Wendy Sidley, who headed the Measure A campaign in Malibu.
Even if enough money is raised to cover what Measure A would have brought in, that will be one-time funding. District officials must still figure out how to create new, ongoing revenue sources. Superintendent Tim Cuneo said last week that he will be asking the committee that created Measure A to reconvene and do an analysis of this election, and possibly work toward bringing a new measure before voters sometime in the near future (although not likely in November). Paul Silvern, a member of the district’s Financial Oversight Committee, said he supports putting up a new parcel tax measure.
As for why Measure A lost, Sidley said she could only speculate, but she thinks the low 30 percent voter turnout was a factor. The election was done entirely through the mail, a method supporters thought would increase the response and give the measure a better chance at victory.
“I feel like we ran the best possible campaign we could,” Sidley said. “We reached out to voters through the mail, e-mail and door-to-door campaigning. We thought we had enough support. But I think what happened is that people that we thought would vote ‘yes,’ I don’t think they came out to vote.”
Wade Major, a Malibu resident and SMMUSD alumnus who opposed the measure, said those who voted against it did so for a number of reasons. But he said the opponents were sending a message that just as ordinary people are having to do in these tough economic times, governments at every level should have to tighten their belts.
“We don’t like seeing teachers having to be fired, but we also don’t like having to cut back on the necessities that we live with daily,” Major said. “And if we have to prioritize and tighten our belts, then you should too.”
He said he hopes that after Measure A’s defeat, the district “gets creative” with finding other revenue options, including federal and private funds.
“There is other money out there,” he said. “You can’t make the claim that the only money available is the money that comes from the state and the voters, and without that we’re lost. It’s not true.”
The final precinct results have not been released by the Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office.
School district budget cuts
– Reduction in conference and travel expenditures ($40,000)
– Elimination of seven counselors positions, including two at Malibu High School ($630,000)
– Reduction of summer school ($100,000)
– Reduction of one security officer at Santa Monica High School ($50,000)
– Elimination of funding for reading specialists ($240,000)
– Reduction of four student outreach specialists at Santa Monica High ($260,000)
– Reduction of two nurses district-wide. ($160,000)
– Reduction of all elementary school library coordinators, one certificated librarian position and three library assistants ($355,000)
– Postponement of 2011-12 textbook adoption ($250,000)
– Reduction in energy/utility expenses ($100,000)
– Reduction of four elementary music teaching positions ($320,000)
– District office reductions, including the elimination of the director of maintenance and operations, the coordinator of student support, a custodian, a utility worker and a painter, as well as other reductions ($400,000)
– Reduction in outside contracts ($200,000)
– Elimination of secondary schools positions that will increase class sizes from 33:1 to 35:1, except at John Adams Middle School (which is a Title I school), where the increase will be from 31:1 to 33:1. ($1,600,000)
– Elimination of elementary school positions that will increase non-Title I school class sizes for K-3 from 23:1 to 27:1; class sizes for grades 4 and 5 at those schools will remain at 30:1; Title-1 schools will increase to 27:1 for K-5 from 23:1 (K-3) and 25:1 (4-5) ($1,680,000)
– Reduction in contribution to Child Development Services ($75,000)
– Elimination of two advisor positions at Santa Monica High School ($165,000)