A letter in last week’s newspaper admonished Malibu residents for not giving enough to Malibu Schools. [Letter titled “Dollars for schools,” published Aug. 29]
After reading the letter, I rushed home to look at my real estate tax bill to confirm that I was doing my share. You may want to do the same. And while you are reviewing your contributions to our school district, you should consider the following.
For some time now, everyone has known that the state budget cuts to education would result in increased class sizes, elimination of some school programs and the forced the dismissal of highly trained teachers and teacher aids.
Did the educational leaders in Malibu take steps to minimize the impact of these budget cuts in Malibu schools? Nope! Instead they decided to spend somewhere close to $1.5 Million of taxpayer dollars to install stadium lighting at Malibu High School, despite the fact that enrollment at the school is dropping and that the lights benefit only a small portion of the student body. At a time when parents in other cities responded to the budget cuts by spending their dollars on teachers and learning programs, Malibu decided to spend money on lights.
Most of the Malibu residents I talked to agree that as long as the mind-set of the Education Foundation’s leadership is focused on “lights instead of learning,” it will be difficult for them to convince us to put any more of our money in their hands.
Steve Uhring