If Santa Monica administrators were shocked and appalled at the relative lack of Malibu giving to districtwide fundraising through the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation (SMMEF), perhaps they should have seen it coming.
Districtwide fundraising, a policy instituted by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) in the fall of 2013, was widely opposed by Malibu parents since it was first discussed in 2011 — including by Craig Foster, now a member of the SMMUSD Board of Education.
“Malibu has learned its voice will not be heard, that its contributions will not make a difference,” then-Webster Elementary School parent Foster said when the board voted to institute the policy in 2011. “Your closed minds have silenced the voices of your supporters in Malibu.”
Touted as a way to bring equity across schools in the district, Malibu parents were adamant the system would not succeed in the geographically and culturally divided school district — and it appears they have made it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This year, Malibu parents have donated just five percent of the total amount raised across the district from families. The money raised since July 1, 2015, totals $65,026, compared to $1,143,953 coming from Santa Monica.
Meanwhile, leaders with the Shark Fund report that fundraising has remained steady in the last several years in the organization that sends money directly to Malibu High School (MHS).
To MHS Parent Teacher Student Association President Karen Farrer, the districtwide fundraising policy likely had a direct effect on a dropoff in funding coming in from Malibu.
“It’s not a surprise that it didn’t work,” Farrer said.
“People actually begged the district not to go down this path and they decided to do it anyway, and here it is now, not succeeding,” she said.
There is a $700,000 budget shortfall projected for this fiscal year, which ends June 30. So what gives?
According to statements made by SMMUSD Board President Laurie Lieberman at the May 6 board meeting, blame can be assigned to Malibu. “We need to be open about where the biggest part of the shortfall is,” Lieberman began, before laying into Malibu.
“[Malibu] parents have made what is either a shortsighted decision, or — I won’t even come up with the number of possible adjectives — but clearly there’s been a concerted effort in many ways,” Lieberman said.
“I just don’t — I have a hard time believing that everybody is making individual decisions to not contribute.”
But as for whether there are parents organizing to oppose giving funds to SMMEF, Farrer said she has never heard of such a thing.
“I almost have to laugh. I’m involved — I’m as involved as anybody in Malibu in our local schools, and I’ve never heard of any such thing,” Farrer said. “So, she can believe whatever she wants, but I’ve never heard of any organized effort.”
Doug Masterson, chair of the Shark Fund, said that the organization has held steady with a budget of about $450,000 per year going to MHS.
“I’d say we’re pretty consistent,” Masterson said, but he felt that some parents are reluctant to give for fear the money will be directed to districtwide fundraising. “People are reluctant to give because they’re afraid the money goes to the district. People are unhappy with the district, and that’s the bottom line. Not everybody, but there’s a significant number of people.”
Adjusted for Malibu’s size — the city makes up just 17 percent of the district’s students — the discrepancy between funding is dwarfed.
“If we had given our full contribution, the district would have $140,000 more than they have now,” Foster said at the May 6 meeting. That would leave Santa Monica to blame for nearly $600,000 of the fundraising deficit.
Linda Greenberg, SMMEF executive director, countered that the amount expected from Malibu families does not align as a “pro-rata” share.
“I would ask you based on your capacity to give,” Greenberg said. “Fundraising is always about getting people to give based on their capacity.”
Greenberg did not provide a figure for the share Malibu was expected to provide.
SMMEF Board President Kathleen Rawson said later that districtwide fundraising has been successful since its implementation, despite “significant obstacles.”
“The most devastating part of this is that the burden will be carried by our kids,” Rawson wrote in an email to The Malibu Times. “We know that some folks would like to see centralized fundraising fail, but SMMEF feels very strongly that EVERY kid deserves a quality education — not just the ones that can afford it; and we feel confident most people feel the same.”
SMMEF could not provide verified records of its fundraising numbers since the districtwide model came into effect, but records from The Malibu Times’ archives suggest SMMEF has consistently fallen short of its fundraising goals over the last three years.