This week, our city council has passed a resolution directing staff to proceed with a process to pursue a petition for Malibu to break away from the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District. Is this necessary? Do we really need to break away?
Currently, there seems to be a consensus among those who consider themselves “public school activists” that the time has come to create a separate district for Malibu. This opinion has only further gained steam from the recent SMMUSD’s policy to equalize program opportunities within the entire school district. To implement this policy the SMMUSD proposes to centralize fundraising for personnel under the auspices of the Santa Monica Malibu Education Foundation.
To truly evaluate the necessity of creating our own school district, our community should first look at whether the impetus for such a move is warranted.
Will the recent proposal as put forth by the SMMUSD for programmatic equality result in any negative impact on our local schools? I contend that it is too early to tell. If the district does move forward, all that will occur in the near future is the convening of a committee made up of interested persons to advise the superintendent how to best implement this policy. The stated goal of the SMMUSD is to retain successful existing programs in our local schools. There is an equal likelihood that the outcome of this process could actually improve all of our schools. Centralizing the fundraising and having district oversight could result in a more effective use of the funds currently raised.
For some, the motivation for the creation of a Malibu Unified School District is understandable, but a careful analysis of the real issues clearly demonstrates that this is just not a good idea.
Malibu cannot fund a credible school district.
Malibu has a limited tax base. Currently the City of Santa Monica contributes over $13,500,000 to the operation of our public schools. Malibu, on the other hand, contributes only about $100,000.00 to the SMMUSD.
The funds raised by private individuals in Malibu, although significant, cannot be relied upon to support a credible educational program.
Malibu has not and will not support a parcel tax. Malibu has never voted the 66 two-thirds percent required to pass a parcel tax to support the public schools. The evidence clearly shows that it is the voters of Santa Monica who have provided the necessary margins to pass a district wide parcel tax. There is little if any evidence that the creation of a Malibu only school district will have any significant effect on the voting patterns in Malibu. Without the ability to pass a parcel tax, the proposed district could find itself woefully underfunded.
Who will govern the Malibu School District? The current board of the SMMUSD is elected at large from the population of the two cities.
If we were to make our own district, who would be elected to that school board? Could one group with a significant social, political and or religious agenda be able to mobilize the support necessary to control the board? What about sex education? Who will decide if it will even be taught in our schools? Will the board be strong enough to make critical curriculum decisions even if those are unpopular? Finally and most importantly, what if the enrollment continues to decline and we can no longer support 3 elementary schools. Will the board be able to stand up to parent groups and tell them that their school needs to be closed?
What effect will funding special education have on the proposed district? Currently we are able to share the costs of special education district-wide. If we lose the benefit of the balance of the district, the entire special education financial obligation will have to be borne exclusively from the Malibu district’s general fund. There is a significant likelihood that the special ed financial obligation could have significant impact upon our ability to fund the programs which we currently enjoy.
Malibu needs to take a collective deep breath and slow down. There are clear and significant benefits for maintaining the status quo. I believe this is true despite the recent fundraising proposal and despite the fact that a Malibu resident does not sit on the current Board of Education.
I hope that after reflection, our community will stop this talk about creating a separate but clearly underfunded Malibu School District, and work together to do what we can to make our entire district one of the best in the state.
Mike Sidley