Drati Trashes Malibu’s “Best And Final Offer” – Special Board Meeting at 4p Today Will Allow Malibu To Speak Up

Santa Monica school superintendent Ben Drati says the best and final offer from Malibu is not acceptable to Santa Monica … not acceptable at all.

Superintendent Doctor Ben Drati tells KBUU News he will send a formal letter to Malibu today … turning down the so-called “best and final offer” made by Malibu 3-1/2 weeks ago.

Malibu officials say they are shocked that the district office forwarded the offer to its lawyers … but apparently not to school board members.

More on that in a second.

But first … the latest details of the dispute.

In an e-mail to KBUU News last night … Drati makes seven points … objections to the offer that Malibu made a month ago.

His public reply came only after the City of Malibu went so far as to post the Malibu offer on its website … publicly … yesterday …

In effect … Malibu smoked him out.

The Malibu offer was described by the city as a generous “last best” financial offer to ensure that Santa Monica schools will have at least the same per-pupil funding for the coming decade.

It’s a 50 million dollar cash transfusion from Malibu property tax revenues to Santa Monica schools … over 10 years after the divorce … according to city officials.

But Santa Monica’s last offer … more than a year ago … was for a far … far larger financial subsidy from Malibu to Santa Monica.

Not 50 million … but upwards of 4 billion dollars … and not for 10 years … but over 50 years.

Drati says Malibu cannot claim peoperty tax money as theirs to offer … all property tax money goes to the state under Proposition 13.

He says Malibu has not made its financial statements clear … that Malibu has never brought to the table an analysis of their proposal that demonstrates their supposed “generous” $50 million over 10 years offer.

Drati says Malibu’s offer irreparably harms students in both cities.

Drati says it is not today … and has not ever been acceptable.

The school board … he says made that clear when it rejected its own joint commission … called MUNC … which recommended a similar allocation of property taxes.

Drati says the Malibu offer leaves Santa Monica students with 26% in reduced revenues after 10 years.

A 55 hundred dollar hole per student … he says.

Malibu hotly disputes that.

Karen Farrer last night told KBUU News that the Malibu offer is more than generous.

NEWSCART 73363 FARRER THE CITY THAT’S GENERATING THEM.

FARRER: “Almost a month ago,. the city sent a letter to the school district attorney, David Soldani, and it’s our best and final offer for separation.

“And that document is public, I can direct you to the link it’s on the city website.

“And what’s puzzling to me is that even, as of right now, that letter has not been shared with the school board.

KBUU: “The district’s lawyer has not sent that to the school board itself?”

FARRER: “To my kbnowledge that’s correct.”

KBUU: “Amazing. ,,, Now Ben Drati sent back a letter. to the city best and final (0ffer), after you giys posted it on the website in which he lists many reasons why he doesn;t agree with the city’s reasoning.

“Where does that leave us right now?”

FARRER: “Santa Monica has put up a smokescreen.

“They are trying to couch our arguments for separation in terms of taking away resources from Santa Monica students, changing the demographics of the district.

“And that’s not the case at all.

“We already have two separate pathways for the schools.

“Separation of the school district does nit mean that one single student changes where they are going to go to school.

“We have separate pathways.

“The Santa Monica students will remain in Santa Monica … the Malibu students will stay in Malibu … and both will have the option to applying for a permit to go to school in the other city.

KBUU: “They have also raised the issue of racial inequity … that we want in essence a lily white school district out here.

Would separation mean any thing in terms of the number of minority students attending either Santa Monica schools or Malibu schools?”

FARRER: “I don’t anticipate any change.

“We already have two separate cities … two separate school districts …

“Malibu has a separate pathway … Malibu has its own bond district … just likje Santa Monica has.

“This is not changing any demographics.

“In fact … per pupil funding on penny.

“If anything … the funding is going up.

“Santa Monica has a lot of money that is specific to Santa Monica.

“There are redevelopment funds.

“There are joint use agreements.

“There is sales tax funding,

“Right now that money coming out of Santa Monica is going into the (combined) school district pot.

“When we separate …. all those funds will be kept by Santa Monica … the city that is generating them.”

Karen Farrer … who has been working on Santa Monica-Malibu school separation for more than 20 years.

The Santa Monica school board will meet in secret session today at 4 p-m … to make strategy for the political battle up ahead next weekend …. when an L A County committee will hear Malibu makes its case.

State law allows the school board to exclude the public if they want to talk strategy about litigation…

The school district’s lawyer tells KBUU that the L A County committee hearing may not be litigation … but the district is entitled to map political strategy behind closed doors.

The Santa Monica board majority is thus using tax money … generated from both Santa Monica and Malibu … to map out a fight in the political battle with its constituents who live in the smaller Malibu section of the split district.

And they are going to do it behind closed doors … where the public cannot see them.

Malibu residents will supposedly have a chance to speak before the board adjourns into closed session.

State law allows the public a chance to speak on closed door session topics … before the board kicks everyone off of the Zoom teleconference.

That meeting is today at 4 p-m … on the Santa Monica school board’s web page.