SMMUSD Ready To Throw In Towel On Donation Equity
Written by 991KBU on June 12, 2018
After years of bitter unhappiness at Malibu High School … the school board appears to be finally throwing in the towel … on equity between campus parent donations.
A formal policy … to divorce the fundraising activities between Malibu and Santa Monica … will go before the school board Thursday.
The basic idea: let Malibu to raise money for Malibu schools while Santa Monica will raise money for Santa Monica schools.
It was nearly a decade ago that the school board decided to take money raised at Malibu’s financially well-off schools … to equalize educational offerings at disadvantaged kids campuses in Santa Monica.
It was an issue of fairness … board members said.
It was unfair that Malibu kids were getting art teachers and field trips … and Santa Monica kids weren’t.
But the creation of the Santa Monica Malibu education foundation flopped.
Malibu parents have shunned it … resulting in Santa Monica parent fundraiser efforts channeling money to Malibu … instead of the other way around.
For the past five years, 95% of the monies raised from parents has come from Santa Monica parents, while only 5% of monies raised from parents has come from Malibu parents.
Now … it’s Santa Monica parents who object to funneling money up or down the Pacific Coast Highway.
The school board Thursday will discuss splitting the fundraising efforts … and either creating an overall Malibu school fund raising organization … or letting the Malibu high school shark club take that role.
The school board will also take a formal vote on splitting Santa Monica and Malibu into two separate improvement districts.
This would allow voters in either city to approve bond issues and property taxes that would be earmarked for each respective city.
The last two districtwide bond issues have a infuriated Malibu Parent activists … who estimate that as much as $70 million of Malibu property tax money has been funneled to rebuild Schools with in the city limits of Santa Monica.
That has been one of the major reasons why the city of Malibu is forcing a divorce of the two city school district.
