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# CITY HALL The lovefest was short-lived
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-hall-the-lovefest-was-short-lived/
- Published: 2007-02-17T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:04:39.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import

*Lincoln Middle School faces lack of class*

Following the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team’s recent report that basically gave the school board the green light to ratify a 5-percent teacher pay raise, good vibrations could be felt throughout the district. Those have stilled somewhat, as it appears the district might not be out of the woods. what several board members have believed all along — the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District will be able to maintain the required 3 percent in its special reserves over the next three years even after the Board of Education grants a 5-percent salary increase to its teachers.

Still, the district may be living on the edge during that time, with no real finances set aside for any unforeseen needs.

By law, the district must maintain a minimum 3 percent of its general fund in special reserves. When the district submitted its preliminary financial AB 1200 report to the Los Angeles County Office of Education in October, the school board and the Financial Oversight Committee discovered that the district could wipe out its special reserve fund in three years if it approved the 5-percent contract.

Once FCMAT Executive Deputy Director Anthony Bridges finished his presentation, congratulations seemed to be in order for Superintendent Dianne Talarico, whose “foresight” in enlisting FCMAT finally set the record straight, according to board members.

“This is what the public process is all about and holding public institutions accountable,” said School Board Vice President Oscar de la Torre. “To me, it worked out.”

With school board members stating that they were happy to finally move forward with the 5-percent ratification, expected to happen next month, and SMMCTA President Harry Keiley echoing that there are 800 teachers awaiting the salary hike, it was time for the Financial Oversight Committee to send out a little reminder.

Prefacing his comments by agreeing that FCMAT performed an outstanding job, FOC Chairman Paul Silvern said that the district will be walking a fine line if the board moves forward with the contract agreement.

At the end of the second year after the contract approval, there will be less than $900,000 in free cash to carry over into fiscal year 2009-10 that’s above and beyond the 3-percent reserve fund level, Silvern said.

“Bear in mind that that projection does not take into account any further salary increases for classified staff... no additional costs with GASB 45, and anything else that might come up over the next couple of years,” Silvern said.

GASB 45 — Governmental Accounting Standards Board — requires government and school agencies consider their post employment benefit costs.

The public wasn’t done with the board quite yet.

John Petz took issue with the process the school board went through in the contract agreements with the teachers union and the disagreements between it and the Financial Oversight Committee. It’s a public process that involved the typical secret meetings that have gone on historically in the district. It’s a process where the school board decided to ignore the concerns of the Financial Oversight Committee. And it’s a process that broke, Petz alleged.

“I’m deeply concerned about how we’re going to pay for the contract,” Petz said.“It is irresponsible to use one-time money reserve to finance an ongoing expenditure.”

> “IT IS IRRESPONSIBLE TO USE ONE-TIME MONEY RESERVE TO FINANCE AN ONGOING EXPENDITURE.” — John Petz school board meeting attendee

School Board President Kathy Wisnicki responded to public concerns on the events of the past few months — events from the preliminary report showing the district in financial trouble to the resignation of former Chief Financial Officer Winston Braham to rumors that he resigned due to a disagreement over financial matters with Talarico.

“None of us wanted to have the process unfold the way it did,” Wisnicki said. “We’ve heard the concerns, we’ve talked to the community and we’ve talked to teachers who have been tremendously patient through this process.

“We look forward to moving the next items forward.”

The board was urged to examine the enrollment decline in the district the past few years since less students mean less money from the state. The decline was intentionally caused by the board about five years ago when it placed a moratorium on non-district students entering SMMUSD, only making exceptions for children of school and city employees.

As enrollment continues to decline, you continue to deficit spend,”Bridges said.“The bottom line is as long as you have an operating deficit, you’ll have difficulty moving forward in the district until you resolve this.”

“Spend what you take in... though it’s easier said than done.”

Another year of declining enrollment is predicted for the next school year, according to a preliminary report conducted by Dr. Douglas Staine, the district’s director of certificate personnel.

A decrease in student enrollment is projected for nearly every single school in the district, with the exception of Edison Language Academy, Point Dume Marine Science School, Santa Monica Alternative School House and Malibu High School. Several schools, like Olympic High School and Community Day School, where the population usually comes from the two other high schools in the district, are expected to maintain the same level of enrollment and are not considered to have an impact on the amount of funding the district receives from the state due to student population.

The school that stands to receive the greatest loss is Lincoln Middle School, with 40 less students in the 2007-08 school year. School board members said they would like to know where the district is losing students. School Board member Jose Escarce believes the district is losing students through what he calls “attrition” with less number of students entering at the kindergarten level than the number of students graduating from high school.

“That’s the only explanation I can think of,” Escarce said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 17, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/021707.pdf?ref=smdp.com)