At its last meeting, the SMMUSD board agonized over spending $100,000 per year to employ a public relations person. They forgot to mention during their debate that in addition to the use of BB Measure funds, this position was going to be funded from the elimination of the position of Director of School Safety. Not one board member objected to the swapping of these positions, demonstrating that PR and taxing are more important to them than school safety.
The board indicated it would eventually ask taxpayers for more money through parcel taxes and Bond initiatives. Yet while discussing the Coastal Commission’s rejection of the application for temporary lights at MHS, there was no discussion about accountability for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars out of General and BB funds on their failed attempt to install permanent lights and artificial turf at MHS for use up to 208 nights, much of which was going to be used for non- student activities. I want to emphasize that I refer to the permanent lights project and not the temporary light initiative, which I supported, and which should have been approved at little cost had the Board and its staff not dropped the ball.
The BB permanent light project was an add-on program, meaning that it would only be considered once it was determined that the more critical needs of Malibu schools had been addressed. Yet the board went ahead and reportedly spent somewhere between 1 percent to 2 percent of the total BB budget for Malibu on consultants promoting the 208 night permanent lights project lacking community support and having the knowledge that there was little chance of approval from the Coastal Commission. Someone needs to take responsibility for this unwarranted expenditure of money! At the same time, the board has been unwilling to include all critical safety improvements needed at Malibu schools as part of the BB project. The district is faced with a deficit and I am willing to vote in favor of a parcel tax to replace funds that were withdrawn by the State. But I am only prepared to do so if I am comfortable that the money would be spent on what taxpayers vote for with full accountability and transparency. The current board has failed to show that they can be good custodians of our money, direct taxpayer money to be spent on critical projects that voters approved and be willing to hold their staff and themselves publicly accountable for their actions. Until they change, they will not have my support for one more dollar.
Steve Scheinkman