SM School Board Will Talk About Banning Kids From Over The Hill, And A Special Bill For Malibu, Tomorrow Night
Written by 991KBU on March 4, 2020
Negotiations between Malibu and Santa Monica over creating a separate school district for our city have reached a hard place.
The issue is a parcel tax that was approved by voters in 2008.
Every property in Malibu and Santa Monica is assessed a $348 Parcel tax to fun school operations.
That tax does not have a sunset … and legal experts say voters in both Malibu and Santa Monica would have to separately have to approve a new parcel tax if the cities divorce.
Santa Monica interest are not willing to roll that dice.
City of Malibu officials are asking the Santa Monica dominated School board to lobby for a special bill from the state legislature to extend the parcel tax in both cities after a divorce.
That matter goes before the school board Thursday … as does the painful 11-1/2 million dollar budget cuts that Superintendent Ben Drati says will be necessary.
The superintendent is proposing that costs be slashed by phasing out the enrollment of kids who don’t live within the school district boundaries.
State aid no longer flows to the school district on a per-pupil basis … so the superintendent says the district can no longer afford to educate students from outside the district.
That’s not acceptable to Malibu … where are areas over the hill traditionally have sent their kids to Malibu schools.
Without those kids … Malibu schools would suffer an 11 percent enrollment drop.
The schools has already been slammed by an enrollment drop caused by both the Woolsey fire and demographic changes.
Malibu school supporters say the viability of the school is threatened by the superintendents proposal.
More than 30 Malibu residents opposed the outside student ban when the board met here in Malibu last month.
