The school district Board of Education, as expected, on Tuesday unanimously approved a measure that prohibits parents from donating directly to their children’s school. Instead, large-scale fundraising will now be conducted through the nonprofit Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation and distributed equally to schools throughout the district. The measure was approved by a 6-0 vote, with Boardmember Ralph Mechur absent because his life partner Linda Gross is the director of the education foundation.
The measure prohibits individual parent teacher associations from raising money to pay for additional staff and programs specific to that school. Corporate gifts of greater than $2,500 will also be prohibited. The PTAs can still raise money for educational supplies and other necessities.
As part of the vote, superintendent Sandra Lyon will convene an advisory committee by Jan. 2012 to meet with other districts that had switched to the centralized fundraising model for advice on implementation of the policy. The committee would issue recommendations to the BOE by spring 2012. Implementation would begin in fall of 2013.
The policy would only apply at first to elementary schools, excluding secondary schools until current fundraising contracts with PTAs at those sites to expire.