The school district board of education made administrative changes to the gift policy that would exempt fundraising for certain school activities and items, but Malibu fundraisers say they plan to withhold contributions to the fund.
By Nora Fleming / Special to The Malibu Times
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education discussed administrative changes that were made to the controversial district equity fund last Thursday. And while no Malibu fundraising representatives were present at the meeting, some members of Malibu school PTAs said they believe the changes are insufficient to fix the major flaws of a system that allowed a lack of compliance on the part of Santa Monica High School. They said they plan to continue withholding their contributions to the fund.
The equity fund, or gift policy, which was adopted by the board under former Superintendent John Deasy in 2004, requires that 15 percent of nonexempt donations and gifts given to the individual schools be pooled together in a districtwide fund. The funds are then allocated with a weighted formula on a per school basis in the form of a block grant, used at each school’s discretion. The goal is to ensure that the disparate fundraising capabilities of the diverse schools within the district, which houses four Title I elementary schools, do not widen the achievement gap in the supplementary services supported by donations.
Last year, all fundraising groups at Malibu school sites decided to stop making their payments into the equity fund after finding out some groups at Santa Monica High School were not contributing to the fund. The changes to the policy, which clarify specific exemptions, were offered by an oversight committee as a solution to this issue, but, Malibu parents said, they are not enough to start paying back into the pot.
“None of these changes actually deal with the fact that these organizations [at Santa Monica High School] have been noncompliant and no one seems to have any good ideas on how to handle it,” said Colleen Baum, a member of the Malibu High School PTA and treasurer for Arts Angels, a fundraising group that pays for all art-related enhancements at the school. “We, as a group, decided we are not paying until we see districtwide compliance, and an accounting audit of who put in [funds] and where that money went, and if it is actually achieving the goal of the equity fund.”
The Santa Monica Band Parents Association, a nonprofit that raises money for Santa Monica High School music students, said they believed that due to their tax exempt status, they did not have to contribute to the fund during the past five years, said board President Ralph Mechur, in an interview with The Malibu Times. The organization has since changed administration and has agreed as of a few weeks ago to make payments in retrograde for the last five years, he said.
Because the policy was not previously clearly defined, other fundraising organizations at Santa Monica High School believed they had exemptions that Malibu disagreed with, he said. With the new clarifications, the district and oversight committee expects these organizations, and the Malibu school ones, to pay for last year and this year, as many of the issues will be put to rest, Mechur said.
District board members, while not in consensus over future changes to the policy and its administration, pledged support to the principles behind the equity fund but also requested that they see more information on whether the equity fund is living up to its intentions.
The difference in fundraising by Santa Monica and Malibu schools is between a little more than $100 per student raised at some schools and several thousand at others, said Linda Gross, executive director of the Education Foundation that helps administer the equity fund. In the 2006-2007 school year, the last year Malibu paid, the district total of equity fund payments was $325,000, of which Malibu schools contributed $155,000, Baum said.
Last year, the district covered the amount it would typically receive from Malibu to continue programs at school sites expecting the money.
The fund’s oversight committee, which consists of school representatives and members of the Education Foundation, made changes to the policy that include more specific exemptions such as visual and performing art supplies, athletic uniforms and equipment, and operating costs, meaning money raised for these items do not need to be counted toward the equity fund. A provision was also included that applies the 15 percent rule to field trips costing more than $1,000 per student.
“Malibu threw the line in the sand and forced us to look at this more carefully,” Gross said. “There is no one policing this policy; it’s kind of like an honor system. We realized we needed to clarify the exemptions because people interpret the policy differently and it has been a cumbersome process over what is exempt and what is not exempt.”
But some Malibu PTA members think the changes were made for other reasons.
“To me it’s clear that they changed the policy to allow Santa Monica High School to become compliant by excluding arts and athletics because they realized they could never get these groups to comply,” said Anne Blackwood, PTA co-president at Webster Elementary School, who attended the oversight committee meetings.
Because the changes made to the policy were administrative, the board could not vote to approve or disapprove them, but offered input on their own issues with its administration.
“The high schools are the Rubik’s Cube of exemptions and are difficult to administer,” said board member Jose Escarce. “I am kind of appalled at how SAMOHI has handled the equity fund and it’s incredibly tempting for me to say we should take out the high schools completely.”
Other board members disagreed on eliminating the high schools, but supported examining how to make the policy less site-based and to be able to take on more district-wide equity initiatives with the money. Currently, $40,000 a year is taken from the fund to support a district-wide intervention summer school program for elementary students.
Superintendent Tim Cuneo is supposed to return to the board with more concrete numbers of how funds have been spent at school sites and if the plan is helping its targeted students. The district will also be examining other districts’ policies with the possibility of amending the equity fund policy next year.
Malibu High School’s construction lauded before being built
By Nora Fleming / Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu High School has been recognized with two American Institute for Architecture awards for the forthcoming construction projects at the school as part of the districtwide Measure BB bond measure project to renovate area schools.
The school was given an overall Award of Excellence for project design from the regional Inland Chapter of American Institute of Architects (AIA) and a Sustainability Award from AIA and the U.S. Green Building Council.
The school’s construction plan calls for a general campus restructuring, including, but not limited to, a new library and administrative building, and classrooms equipped with improved technology, as well as natural lighting and ventilation.
As with the plans for other schools within the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, the construction plan for Malibu High School also includes features to make the buildings and campus more environmentally friendly. Malibu High’s construction plans, which include green roofs, solar panels, campus open space and the latest ways to drain, filter and conserve water, were all considered in receipt of the sustainability award.
It is very rare for schools to be recognized before construction has even been undertaken, said Gary Gidcumb, principal architect with the firm HMC that is working on Malibu High School. There will be a more formal award recognition process for the school with a dinner and presentation likely next month, Gidcumb said.
At Thursday night’s board meeting, the board discussed a possible policy for adding alternative features to the bond-supported construction projects at district schools. The original division of funds from the BB bond includes $33,232,000 for escalation and market factor costs, which, due to the current economy, will allow the district some extra funding for various projects.
The funds could provide the district the possibility of including project additions that were originally proposed in site designs but were not listed as the highest priorities, as well as unplanned needs that have arisen at some of the schools, such as the overhaul of the septic system at Malibu High School, which was recently approved.
The first stages of construction at Malibu High School are planned for the coming summer. Currently, construction costs at Malibu High School total around $32 million.