Malibu and SMMUSD release joint statement regarding school district separation negotiations
After missing a self-imposed deadline to complete the first drafts of three major agreements identified in the Term Sheet in the Malibu School separation process from the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District, the district and the City of Malibu have issued a joint statement.
Both parties had been quiet on Malibu’s “unification,” as it’s called, since missing the deadline of April 15, 2023. SMMUSD officials said the district was busy trying to replace Dr. Ben Drati, who resigned from his position as Superintendent to serve in the Bellflower Unified School District.
The joint statement issued Monday, May 15, recounted: “Negotiations between the City of Malibu and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD), initiated in October 2022, led to agreement on a ‘Term Sheet,’ which outlined a framework to accomplish formation of an independent Malibu Unified School District and Santa Monica Unified School District. The Term Sheet identified a goal of finalizing three agreements by April 15, 2023, but clarification of additional details will be required to accurately reflect the agreement between the parties.”
New information in the statement reads: “Most importantly, the parties have reached an agreement that all students will benefit from the creation of independent school districts. Hence, the parties will continue to finalize key terms for the three agreements that will define the separation.”
Under the Term Sheet, the parties were left to hammer out three major written agreements, namely, a tax revenue sharing agreement, an operational transfer agreement, and a joint powers agreement, as part of an exhaustive effort to effect the complicated process of the separation. An unanswered question is how future taxpayer funding would ensure no less than the current level of educational programs to students in both territories. An earlier joint statement also detailed a framework to achieve an independent Malibu School District by including self-imposed deadlines in order to keep the process moving forward with the earliest possible date for Malibu autonomy of July 1, 2024. The delays make even less likely that the formation of a new independent Malibu school district could occur by that date.
Monday’s joint statement does not identify any progress made with respect to any of the three agreements. Self-imposed deadlines of April 15, May 4, May 10, and May 15 for completion of the agreements, approval of a Joint Petition by the School Board and by the Malibu City Council, and submission of the Joint Petition to the County have all passed.
Malibu Mayor Bruce Silverstein noted that Monday’s press release was not approved or endorsed by the City Council. Silverstein does not sit on the Ad Hoc Committee responsible for the School Separation effort and said he is “not at liberty to discuss information I have learned in Closed Session meetings of the City Council to receive briefings by the Ad Hoc Committee and their advisors.”
Last October, then-Councilmember Silverstein abstained from supporting the “Term Sheet” that was approved by the City Council and the School Board. He had publicly described the original joint agreement as a “pre-election political stunt.” Silverstein this week emailed The Malibu Times saying, “I continue to support the Ad Hoc Committee’s efforts to negotiate a consensual arrangement that will be fair to Malibu and Santa Monica, but I am skeptical of the School Board’s good faith and willingness to engage in the sort of true compromise necessary to reach such an arrangement.”
According to Silverstein, “there does not appear to be any reasonable prospect that any of the Term Sheet’s future deadlines will be satisfied.”
Malibu’s only school board member Stacy Rouse sounded more positive on the separation negotiations. Although she does not sit on the subcommittee working on the negotiations, she said Monday’s joint statement between the City of Malibu and the district indicates commitment. “It’s still a priority and still happening even though the timeline isn’t being kept. All along, it’s been a roadmap. It’s not an alarm that we’re not meeting all the dates at this time. The fact they’re making joint statements and continuing mediation is really positive and encouraging. Everything I hear is that both sides are really committed. My understanding is they want to do it right, and if that means going forward to get the things done that need to get done, then they’re committed to that.”
The next mediation session is scheduled for August 8, 2023. Meanwhile, an update on the negotiations was given to the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization on May 3 and was provided to the Malibu City Council on May 8.