Passage of a $300 parcel tax would bring in approximately $8 million to help the beleaguered school district survive the fiscal year.
By Michelle Logsdon/Special to The Malibu Times
If voters do not approve a proposed $300 parcel tax in November, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) may have to cut programs like music, art, advanced placement courses and nursing.
That was the sobering news delivered by Superintendent John Deasy during an informal presentation to the Malibu Business Roundtable June 12. Deasy told the group of business and city representatives, “If [the tax] would not pass, the district must cut $5.8 million out of next year’s budget and that is going to end programs.”
SMMUSD cut $4 million from this year’s budget but still faces a $2.9 million shortfall, due, in part, to a trickle-down effect from the nation’s financial upheavals following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Insurance bills are hitting the district hard, including a 29 percent increase in medical and dental rates.
Although the budget problems have been exacerbated by current national events, the troubles began locally years ago. In 1978, a court case ruling ended the system of property tax funding for public schools and California implemented a statewide formula called the Average Daily Attendance (ADA). Under the ADA, each district receives the same amount of money per pupil per days attended.
Deasy told the Roundtable members the ADA has not equalized the funding system as expected.
“What got equalized was poverty, not wealth,” he said.
On top of that, the state has reversed SMMUSD’s cost of living adjustments (COLA) for the past eight years. To deal with this problem, the district increased the number of students admitted into its schools from outside district boundaries. But this source of funding has its own unique set of issues and does not remain profitable for long.
In another attempt to offset the dwindling funds, Deasy froze salaries.
“That has not been a positive event,” he said. “No one in their right mind wants to be a new superintendent, and after 10 years of raises say now there isn’t one.”
That leaves the district with a limited number of alternatives for repairing the deficit that is expected to double next year. Deasy is making the rounds informing anyone he can about SMMUSD’s need. The City of Santa Monica responded by approving its annual $3 million allocation to the district plus an additional $1.5 million for this year’s coffers. So far, the City of Malibu is giving the same amount as last year-approximately $35,000. Malibu City Manager Katie Lichtig was at the Roundtable meeting, but had no comment for this article.
Deasy’s final legal options are bonds or a parcel tax. Last month, the school board voted to put a $300 parcel tax on the November ballot. Should that measure pass, the district could get approximately $8 million to survive the year. The tax has a shelf life of 12 years and is in addition to a 2-year-old $98 parcel tax that will be in place another eight years. Anyone with a business or residence in the SMMUSD school district boundaries will be voting on the parcel tax and paying for it if it passes.
The Malibu Chamber of Commerce will hold a community meeting on the parcel tax after Deasy begins formal information sessions in September.