Last week, a very well organized group of school supporters filed an amendment to the city charter that would mandate City Hall fork over a minimum of $6 million annually to the local school district, which faces severe budget cuts from the federal and state governments.
School supporters have continuously thanked the City Council for financially helping the district out in past years, but they want to ensure they get more money to keep local schools top-notch. Voters most likely will be asked in November if taxpayer money should be dedicated to the schools. City officials, however, aren’t too keen on the idea of not having control over the cash.
So this week, Q-Line wants to know, “Should the schools have a set amount of money put aside every year or should the discretion be left up to the City Council?”
Call (310) 285-8106 with your response before Thursday at 5 p.m. We’ll print them in Friday’s paper. Please limit your comments to a minute or less. It might help to think first about the wording of your response.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.