“If Malibu separates, Santa Monica schools/students lose money.”
This is a misunderstanding. Both the MUNC [Malibu Unification Negotiations Committee] and SSC [School Services of California] agreements are specifically structured so that the Santa Monica School District experiences continually rising year-on-year revenue flow. SMUSD never loses money (there is that down year at the end in SSC’s report but that is a function of SSC’s assumptions and will be corrected).
What is true is that SMUSD has less money than it would as part of SMMUSD [Santa Monica-Malibu School District]. This is what Superintendent Ben Drati called a loss of “purchasing power.”
Also, really important to remember, SMUSD is a rich district. It will be a basic aid district within a year or two of independence, if not immediately upon independence. It also has about $30 million in revenue from joint use agreements, rental income and tax revenues on top of its extra basic aid tax revenues. SMUSD will be richer than 95 percent of California school districts.
Yes, MUSD [Malibu Unified School District] will have much more money per student than SMUSD but SMUSD will have much more money per student than all but a tiny handful of California school districts. If we are truly looking to take care of “all the students,” both districts would give their money to nearby districts with much greater need and much fewer resources (for example, Compton Unified School District for SMUSD and Oxnard Union High School District for MUSD).
Between the richness of both districts and the fact that SMMUSD is already two school districts under one rule, this argument is either wrong or incredibly self-serving.
Kathryn Alice