Fear that the school could close because of declining enrollment, and the current state and local financial crisis affecting schools are the factors behind the effort to seek charter status for Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
A group of parents at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School, or PDMSS, is looking to transform Malibu’s smallest public school into the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s first charter school. With this designation, a PDMSS board consisting of parents, at-large community members and possibly teachers would be in charge of school finances, curriculum and most other features currently run by the SMMUSD. The district would only remain in a monitoring role.
PDMSS parents Robyn Ross and Ali Thonson, who are leading the effort, hope to bring a petition to the Board of Education by September. It would detail the financial and curriculum plan as well as give evidence to the feasibility of the school being able to operate on its own. The parents have hired a budget writer from San Francisco to help them with the financial analysis. The board would have 60 days to make a decision. If it rejected the petition, the parents could appeal to the Los Angeles County Office of Education. A rejection there could be appealed to the state. If the school were granted charter status on appeal, either the county or state would oversee the school’s operation.
The parents have already cleared one hurdle by obtaining the support of all 11 schoolteachers. That does not necessarily mean they plan to teach at a future charter school, but rather that they believe it is OK for the school to go down that route. Majority teacher support is required for a school to convert to charter status.
As a charter school, PDMSS would still have to abide by state education standards, including testing. It would receive funding from Sacramento based on daily attendance, and would be audited twice per year. All money raised through the PTA and by other donations would stay at the school. It would no longer have to commit 15 percent of its earnings to the SMMUSD’s equity fund. Ross said that was not a reason for going forward in pursuing the change.
“That is not an issue at all,” she said. “And it hasn’t been for years. We have always done a significant amount of fundraising and we’ve had to do that for many years in order to alleviate the effects of the budget cuts.”
Ross and Thonson began studying the charter process late last year for two reasons-a fear the school was in danger of closing because of its decreasing population and because of the state’s financial crisis, and, in turn, the district’s financial crisis-which, in their opinion, made it necessary for PDMSS to oversee its own situation.
Although Ross and Thonson both said in interviews that the state’s financial crisis meant PDMSS must be in charge of its own finances to maintain the school’s high-achieving status, neither said the district had been mismanaging the school. They also declined to say specifically that PDMSS stakeholders would do a better job running the school, but they both said several times that independence is needed to maintain the educational excellence.
As for the fear the school could close, that remains an issue of debate as to how realistic a possibility it is.
“We fear that the school closure is imminent,” Ross said. “We know that it’s not going to happen next year, but we do think that by the following year it could. It’s being talked about at all levels. If you look at the district statistics on declining enrollment, the writing’s on the wall.”
Thonson said Superintendent Tim Cuneo told attendees at a meeting on district budget matters earlier this year at Malibu High School that closing one of Malibu’s elementary schools for the 2011/12 school year is on the table. With PDMSS being the smallest, she says it is the likely candidate. Cuneo said this week he did not recall his exact words from that meeting.
“I probably said I can’t predict the future if things financially get worse than they are,” Cuneo said. “I would think [in that situation] the board and I would be studying consolidation of schools and a variety of other things. But those are huge steps to take, and it takes a long time to think them through and the impact it would have on a child’s education.”
He continued, “There has been no discussion about this [Point Dume closure]. There is a rumor about that, but the board hasn’t had a discussion about that, nor has that come up during any of the budget discussions. And that’s generally when anything like that would come up.”
There are currently 264 students attending PDMSS. District projections have the number dwindling to 215 within five years. Cuneo said there is no specific maximum number of students a school must have to remain open. A declining youth population forced the school to close in 1980. It remained that way until 1996, when it reopened with the current marine science focus. Thonson said if the school becomes a charter, the marine science program would remain the theme.
Approximately 120 parents attended a meeting about the charter process last week hosted by Ross and Thonson. The two said there was no vocal opposition, and most parents appeared to be excited and wanted to know how they could help. The two and some other parents also briefly met with Cuneo last week. They described the meeting as “positive.” Another one will happen again soon, and board members will be invited as well.
Cuneo told The Malibu Times he was surprised to hear Point Dume wanted to become a charter school, because, minus one exception he knows of in San Mateo where a school was geographically distant from the rest of the district, all charter applications he is familiar with are from low-achieving schools. Thonson said through her research, she learned about Meadows School in the Conejo Valley, a high achieving school that was forced to close because of declining enrollment. It later opened as a charter, and she sees many similarities between its situation and the one at PDMSS.
When asked whether he could support this process, Cuneo said, “I don’t know enough about what they want to do yet to form an opinion.”
Charter Schools in Focus
What would becoming a charter school mean?
A PDMSS board consisting of a to-be-determined number of people composed of parents, at-large community members and possibly teachers would be in charge of all aspects of the school, including financial and curriculum decisions. It would still remain a public school within the SMMUSD, and would have to meet all state education standards. The SMMUSD would serve as a monitor (unless it is the county or state on appeal, rather than the SMMUSD that approves the charter school. In that case, the county or state would do the monitoring) and PDMSS would have to prove that it can continue to operate the school through twice yearly audits.
What is the process to become a charter school?
The parents need support from the majority of the teachers at the school. PDMSS has already cleared that hurdle by obtaining support of all 11 teachers. A petition must be submitted to the Board of Education addressing 16 areas, including the curriculum and a five-year projected budget. If the board approves the petition, the school can open as a charter for the 2011-12 school year. If the petition is rejected, the decision could be appealed to the Los Angeles County Office of Education and, lastly, the State Board of Education.
How prevalent are charter schools?
According to the California Charter Schools Association, there are 809 charter schools in California with more than 341,000 students attending them. The number of charter schools has increased by about 50 each year during the past 10 years.