School board considers another parcel tax to help with the budget shortfall, which some parents support. They lament the need to conduct fundraisers and other revenue-enhancing programs to help pay for items such as office supplies.
By Pamela Wells/Special to The Malibu Times
In the face of a budget deficit of approximately$2.5 million and dire warnings from Superintendent John Deasy of future program and other cuts, the Santa Monica-Malibu School District Board agreed to give an advance of $85,785 to help the superintendent purchase a home in Santa Monica.
The advance was approved during last week’s board meeting. At the same time a resolution to propose placing a new parcel tax on the Nov. 7, 2002 ballot to help with the budget shortage was passed. The district plans to hire a voter surveying firm “at a cost not to exceed $20,000 to research and test voter receptivity” to the measure.
Deasy, who was hired July, 2001, moved to Santa Monica from Rhode Island last summer with his family. He was given a housing allowance of $1,500 a month, which under his contract requires him to live within district boundaries. He is currently in escrow to purchase a condominium in a luxury complex with prices reaching almost $1 million.
The board originally approved a $100,000 loan to help him purchase a home, but the Los Angeles County Office of Education vetoed that idea.
Meanwhile, the school board has set a tentative timeline to get the parcel tax on the November ballot. Deasy suggested this option in a letter to the board as the best way to deal with the budget shortage.
In an earlier interview, Deasy said the budget shortfall is expected to have an impact of several years and that “there will be some serious cutbacks to support programs … and we will not be in a position to replace the programs we cut.”
While Deasy is assuring parents the district is using the premise it cut as far away from the classroom as possible, some parents say they simply can’t take any more cuts.
“California has the fourth largest economy in the world, yet our school system, in terms of a quality education, depending on what you measure, is among the worst in the nation,” Deirdre Roney, a Malibu mother of two, said. “It is terrible how parents have to come up with money from their own pockets and find alternative ways to help the schools financially.”
Currently, California per pupil spending is between $4,500 and $5,000.
“Our per-pupil spending is among the lowest among the 50 states because of property taxes,” Roney said. “California is struggling to keep up with states like Mississippi in terms of how much money it gives per student.”
This concerned mother, who has a second-grader and a fifth-grader at Webster Elementary School, is saddened by the current state of the public education system in her community. She is not against another parcel tax.
“There are other well-educated and well-off communities that have a 75 percent higher parcel tax than we do,” Roney said. “I am concerned because, even with raising the parcel tax, our parcel tax will still be on the low end of other parcel taxes in the state.”
The huge shift in quality education in California is attributed to Proposition 13, a property-limiting tax measure that was passed in the mid-70s.
“States that have higher property taxes have better educational systems,” Roney said. “They have better educational systems because they are able to give more money per student. If the property tax is lower, then the students suffer because the school is given lower funding.”
It is this discrepancy that upsets many parents.
“The money has to come from somewhere,” Roney said. “The money is coming from parents’ pockets, parcel taxes and the PTA (Parent/Teacher Association). We have to do alternative fundraisers if we want our kids to have a quality education.”
Laura Rosenthal, PTA president at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School, said the PTAs are forced to raise money to help supplement the money that is not coming from Sacramento.
Rosenthal said some of the things the PTA pays for are: copy machines, vocal music and art programs, science teachers, classroom aides, office supplies, technology support and additional, needed computers in the classroom.
“Many of these things are mandated by the state, but the schools do not have the money to have them,” Rosenthal said. “If we want our kids to have a quality education and be competitive, we have to find ways to get the money to help them reach this goal.”
This concerned PTA president thinks more needs to be done.
“I don’t see this shortfall as a shortfall,” Rosenthal said. “I see it as a revenue crisis. The cities need to step up to the plate. They should consider a parcel tax on every single parcel in the school district. Currently the parcel tax is $98 a year and that is divided up before coming to the school district.”