Malibu has not had a representative on the Board of Education since 2008. Farrer, Jacobson and Foster are running on a “reform slate.”
By Ashley Archibald / Special to The Malibu Times
The local school district race just got interesting.
Three education advocates from Malibu have thrown their hats in the ring, challenging the three incumbents for their spots on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education.
Craig Foster, Seth Jacobson and Karen Farrer pulled papers on Wednesday of last week in what is now a seven-member school board race.
If all seven get the 100 signatures required to qualify for the November ballot by Aug. 10, the three Malibu residents will face off against incumbent boardmembers Jose Escarce, Maria Leon-Vazquez and board president Ben Allen, as well as Jake Wachtel, who also ran in 2010.
Malibu has not had a representative on the board since Kathy Wisnicki served from 2004 to 2008. Wisnicki chose not to seek re-election in 2008, leaving the city without representation for the first time in 30 years.
All three Malibu candidates belong to Advocates for Malibu Public Schools, or AMPS, a group that has long pushed for Malibu to separate and form its own school district.
Although they believe their candidacy could solve Malibu’s long-standing complaint regarding a lack of representation on the Board of Education, the Malibu candidates will strive to represent the interests of all students in the schools, they said.
“People want their kids to get the best education they possibly can,” Foster said. “There’s a strong sense in the district that our cities deserve a really high level of public education and that while we have a high level of public education, we’re nowhere near the potential or level that we deserve as a combined community.”
The three are running as a team on what they call the “reform slate,” a common platform that emphasizes student achievement, reduced classroom size, closing the achievement gap among district demographic groups and working with the teachers’ union to put in place best practices.
They plan to fund this by cutting down on the cost of administration and by creating an independent Malibu School District, which staff believes would redirect Santa Monica funds back to a sole Santa Monica district.
“We’re running on a platform to put ourselves out of work,” Jacobson said.
Over the course of the last year, Malibu residents have expressed their distrust of the Board of Education, whose seven members live in Santa Monica.
Controversial issues like districtwide fundraising and the newly proposed $385-million bond measure have come and gone before the board, with what many in Malibu would say was little thought to the interests of their city and their needs.
That, in part, guided the decision of the three candidates to run together. One seat might not serve to get Malibu’s interests across, but three would hold a strong minority on the board.
“We feel we’re more powerful as three,” Jacobson said. “Considering there are three open seats, it’s important to show that we want representation and are willing to aggressively pursue broad representation on the board and take on the status quo.”
Each candidate comes with a background of advocacy in Malibu.
Foster is the president of AMPS and also served as president of the Webster Elementary Parent Teacher Association, and Jacobson is vice president of AMPS and the former vice president of the Point Dume Marine Science School parent group.
Farrer also comes to the table with PTA credentials as the former president of Webster Elementary School PTA, former executive board member at Point Dume, executive vice president of the Malibu High School PTA and nine-year member of the PTA Council Executive Board.
Jacobson and Farrer also served on the Shark Fund, which raises money for programs at Malibu High School.
Their candidacy has support from leadership at Malibu City Hall, including Mayor Laura Rosenthal and Councilmember Lou La Monte.
La Monte was surprised and happy to hear the three had pulled papers in the election.
“These are three incredibly capable candidates,” La Monte said.
The Malibu City Council will vote on co-sponsoring a forum for the school district and college district on Aug. 13.
In the meantime, the three candidates will push forward with their message both in Malibu and Santa Monica.
“We think that with a strong message and a compelling theme to our candidacy, we can hopefully overcome those entrenched lines that have been drawn in the sand—school versus school, city versus city—and make it about the kids,” Jacobson said.
A previous version of this story originally appeared in the Santa Monica Daily Press.