Divert money to schools
The following letter was e-mailed to Mayor Jeff Jennings and the Malibu City Council.
“Think Globally but Act Locally” has been a catchphrase of the environmental activists for several years. Malibu has acted “globally” on several issues, including declaring its waters to be a “nuclear-free zone.” Now it’s time to come home and act locally. Never has your Malibu constituency needed your support more than today to help solve the monumental financial deficit of some 13.8 million which faces the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD).
Like Damocles’ mythical sword, fiscal shortfalls have dangled above California’s public schools since the passage some 25 years ago of Prop. 13. Without the revenue that Proposition 13 denied them, school districts like SMMUSD have become more and more dependent on financing from the state’s general coffers, which wax and wane with the state’s economic fortunes and misfortunes, such as the recent electric power debacle.
Now that fiscal sword has fallen. The education, and thus the future, of all our children are the potential victims of this fiscal crisis. The SMMUSD has given notice (pink slips) to 20 classroom teachers, its entire elementary instrumental music staff, music assistants, accompanists, P.E. coaches, elementary school librarians, maintenance staff, and some school nurses.
The City of Malibu has the power to mitigate some of these devastating losses by contributing to the SMMUSD, just as the City of Santa Monica has done for the past six years. But 13.8 million is no small deficit and the City of Malibu’s contribution must increase over the $35,000 it gave last year. The City of Malibu enjoys a surplus in its budget this year and additionally has earmarked 1.5 million in that budget for new city offices. But the city has already leased and moved into refurbished offices on Stuart Ranch Road. So, how about contributing that 1.5 million to our local public schools and SMMUSD? There will never be a better time!
Diane C. Hines, past president
Webster Elementary PTA and Malibu High School PTSA
Member, District Fine Arts Advisory Committee