The Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday after The Malibu Times went to print was expected to approve a half-cent sales tax measure for the Nov. 2 election. The ballot would also include a non-binding question whether voters wanted half the estimated $13 million the tax is expected to generate to go toward the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. Money from the city sales tax would go to the district as a whole, and therefore benefit Malibu schools as well as those in Santa Monica
The City of Santa Monica this fiscal year is giving nearly $8 million to the SMMUSD. The two entities have a contractual agreement for this annual funding. The City of Malibu, which has a significantly smaller population and budget than Santa Monica, is not giving any money to the district this year. But Malibu and the SMMUSD have several joint-use agreements for local facilities.
Santa Monica staff presented the concept for a sales tax measure, which would require a simple majority for passage, to the council last week. Mayor Bobby Shriver was the only council member who did not endorse the concept. The language was expected to be finalized at this week’s meeting. Santa Monica this year was forced to overcome a $13.2 million difference between expenditures and revenues in its initial budget through cuts, increased city program fees and use of one-time funds. This separation between expenditures and revenues is expected to widen in future years, and the tax measure is supposed to lessen the pain.
Following the May defeat of the SMMUSD parcel tax measure, education activists have been meeting to consider presenting a new measure to voters possibly as soon as November. The committee is expected to make a recommendation to the Board of Education at its meeting this week on Wednesday.
Several education activists spoke at the Santa Monica council meeting in opposition to placing a city and school tax on the same ballot, fearing it could lead to both being defeated. They proposed the idea of the ballot question about designating city sales tax money to the SMMUSD.
Regardless of the answer to this question, the city would not be obligated to send the money to the district. However, several council members said at the meeting that they liked this concept. It should also be noted that five of the seven Santa Monica council members must defend their seats in November.
For this fiscal year, the district was forced to cut more than $7 million in programs and teachers due to reduced funding from the state, its largest financial contributor. The defeated parcel tax would have generated an estimated $5.7 million. The Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation, or SMMEF, with help from volunteers is engaged in an emergency fundraising campaign called Save Our Schools, or SOS. The goal is to bring in as much money as possible by Aug. 15 to restore the jobs for some of the laid-off teachers, counselors and other staff.
As of last week, the effort had garnered more than $565,000. According to an SOS press release, this will allow for the return of three first-grade teachers, one counselor or grade 6-12 teacher and one elementary library coordinator.
“We have seen a remarkable grassroots effort by this community with the energy of more than 100 volunteers working tirelessly to raise these funds,” said Linda Gross, SMMEF’s executive director, in the press release. “We are very proud of all of their work. At the same time, with state budget cuts of $30 million over the last three years and more cuts on the way, we must not lose sight of the fact that additional stable public funding is critical if we truly hope to address the scope of the problem and provide a quality education for all students.”
For more information on the campaign, go to www.smmeff.org.
All incumbents competing in School Board Race
Board of Education member Oscar de la Torre announced this week that he will be seeking a third term. He had been considering a run for the Santa Monica council. His announcement means that all four incumbents whose terms expire in November will be seeking reelection. Ralph Mechur, Kelly Pye and Barry Snell already announced their intentions to run.
Mechur was appointed to his seat in 2007 to replace Emily Bloomfield, who moved from the district. He ran unopposed in a special election one year later to complete her term. Pye and Snell were elected to their first terms in 2006.
So far, two challengers have announced they will compete in the race. They are longtime education activist Laurie Lieberman and Nimish Patel, who is a member of the SMMUSD’s Financial Oversight Committee
All the candidates are Santa Monica residents. Malibu has been without a school board representative since Kathy Wisnicki declined to run for reelection in 2008.
All seven existing members of the board received endorsements from the powerful political group Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, or SMRR. The SMRR endorsement convention will take place on Aug. 1.