If approved by the board of education, the bond measure would be placed on the November ballot and require a 55 percent approval by voters.
By Melissa Caskey / Special to The Malibu Times
A $385 million proposed bond measure will come before the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education at its July 18 meeting. The money would be used to update and maintain aging school facilities.
The board will decide whether to place the bond measure on the same November ballot that will have voters decide on two crucial state tax proposals to curb the state’s budget deficit, one by Gov. Jerry Brown and another from activist Molly Munger. Brown has proposed raising income taxes on California’s wealthiest and also an increase in sales taxes. Munger has proposed raising income taxes on most California residents. If neither tax measure passes, statewide K-12 education funding would be severely reduced through automatic trigger cuts. In that scenario SMMUSD would face $5 million in budget cuts, according to district estimates.
“We need one or both of those measures to pass. It’s critical for our operations,” Superintendent Sandra Lyon said.
If the board decides to add the local bond measure to the ballot, and if voters pass it, then the measure would cost property owners within the district $185 per year for an estimated 25 to 30 years.
The Economic Feasibility Committee, a citizen committee, decided to recommend the bond measure for approval at the board’s meeting after a study showed voters were more likely to pass a bond than a parcel tax. The committee contracted Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, which randomly polled 500 voters in Malibu and Santa Monica. Goodwin conducted two polls—one on the feasibility of a parcel tax and one on the feasibility of a bond measure—and found that a bond measure was four percent more popular than a parcel tax.
Committee members came up with the $385 million estimate after assessing facility needs around the district and pending plans for elementary schools that were drawn up after renovation measure BB passed in 2006.
SMMUSD Assistant Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer Jan Maez said the $385 million figure is not set in stone, but it was the number used during the Economic Feasibility Committee’s polling process.
“They haven’t made a firm recommendation,” Maez said. “But [$385 million] was the number that was used in the polling.”
Money collected from a bond measure can be used for public works projects and improvements on facilities, but the money cannot fund teacher or employee salaries.
“One of the things that we don’t get a regular funding stream for is the maintenance and the upgrading of facilities,” Lyon said. “And so school districts have been forced to run bonds in order to do that.”
The Board of Education faces a complex deliberation in discussing the bond, board member Nimish Patel said.
“I’m not sure whether this is the right course of action to take,” Patel said. “I really want to study this.”
Patel acknowledged the old age of many school facilities in the district, but also said the district should be wary of depending on taxpayers’ wallets.
“We’ve survived this long without renovating facilities,” Patel said. “We still need to be considerate of our constituents who are already paying certain taxes.”
Neil Carrey, chair of the Economic Feasibility committee, said the bond money would be a significant aid in capital improvements to district facilities.
“Clearly, there is a lot of unmet needs, especially at Santa Monica High School,” Carrey said. “Many of the buildings are very old.”
As for schools in Malibu, Mayor Laura Rosenthal said there are a number of possible uses for the bond money but she wants to hear from the community before setting ideas forth.
“I haven’t seen the final language. I’ve been talking to a number of people and waiting to see what [Advocates for Malibu Public Schools] will say at their meeting,” Rosenthal said. The group, known as AMPS, is comprised mainly of Malibu parents seeking to improve the quality of Malibu public schools. AMPS has also led the charge for breaking away from Santa Monica to form an independent Malibu school district, a complex process
Craig Foster, the president of AMPS, said the organization was not consulted by the Economic Feasibility Committee during the research and polling process. No members from the Malibu community sit on the 20-person Economic Feasibility Committee.
“It’s difficult to get people [from Malibu] to join because all the meetings are in Santa Monica,” Rosenthal said.
AMPS members planned on discussing the bond measure at their next meeting on July 10.
“We are looking at it very carefully,” Foster said.
Malibu students comprise 17 percent of the total SMMUSD enrollment, according to a presentation given by Maez at a May 3 board meeting.
If the board decides to move forward with the bond measure, Maez said members would be under a time crunch to get the item onto the November ballot.
“Things have to be pretty much in place early in August. The board could make a decision to move forward and take final action on their meeting in August,” Maez said.
Passing a bond measure requires 55 percent voter approval, whereas a parcel tax requires two-thirds approval.