Here are your responses: YES, I THINK DIVIDING THE DISTRICT in two is a very good idea for all concerned.”
“THERE IS ONLY ONE SCHOOL DISTRICT — the Los Angeles County School District. Based on school budget, the county monetarily subsidizes all school districts in the Los Angeles County area. Those monetary funds are derived from various forms of taxation. Based on budget, it would not be difficult for the county finance administration to forward checks directly to Malibu. Santa Monica compounds what they grab from the county by having their own form of apartment building/tenant rip-off taxation. As a tenant, I will expect to pay much less the Santa Monica tax window, if and when the Malibu school district becomes a separate entity.”
“THE SANTA MONICA-MALIBU Unified should definitely be split. I think that some of Santa Monica is corrupt and that they should split off into their own districts.”
“THE BEST THING FOR MALIBU RESIDENTS and their children is to have their own district. There’s no reason for Malibu schools to be governed by the Santa Monica-dominated school board and have their tax money going to support the Santa Monican schools. The school district would obviously fight it, but if I were a resident of Malibu, I would fight for independence from Santa Monica.”
“IT’S NOT ONLY A GOOD IDEA, IT’S THE right idea and long overdue. This arrangement stems from a time when Malibu was an unincorporated area, whose few students were bused into schools in Santa Monica. It should have been terminated when Malibu High was established in 1992. California law mandates that a school district must be composed of adjacent communities. So this arrangement is clearly illegal. And it is unconscionable that Santa Monicans through the highly regressive parcel tax are paying for Malibu schools.”
“IF THEY DIVIDE THE DISTRICT INTO two districts it probably won’t save money. Even with one district, they’ll spend more money than they need to. But with two districts, you have two sets of idiots messing things up, instead of just one set of idiots.”
“HOW MUCH MONEY DOES MALIBU contribute in yearly taxes to the school district? We have roughly four times the taxpaying population and about four times the student population. Malibu can split when they reimburse us for the many millions we’ve spent to upgrade an unneeded high school for rich kids. Plus our supporting their low student population per school, compared to Santa Monica, leads to higher GPAs. Samohi’s test scores are lower because of the absence of Malibu students’ peer pressure. Our school district is one of the most incompetent organizations mismanaging our money. For the half a billion dollars spent in the last 20 years, we now have a polarized school community with the most money spent to achieve higher GPA per student ratio for any school in the country — and failing.”
“I THINK IT’S PROBABLY LONG OVERDUE for many different reasons. The ad hoc committee will probably come up with something that we will all understand. We do know that we support each other in many different ways, but I’m personally in favor that Malibu has theirs and we have ours.”
“I’m a resident of Santa Monica and I think dividing the school district is a good idea. It complies with Education Code 4200 (I know I sound like a computer now), but there won’t be any significant impact — the schools already exist and the students won’t be sent to other schools. It doesn’t make sense. It seems like an end run on Proposition 13 to raise taxes with the parcel tax.”
“I DON’T THINK IT WILL BE A GOOD idea to split the district because Malibu is a much wealthier district than most parts of LA. I think the LA Unified would suffer and Malibu would benefit from the split. Also, Malibu has much better fundraising abilities.”
“I HAVE TWO KIDS IN SAMOHI AND I do agree Malibu should break off and create their own district. I guess they’re really happy with the success of their high school right now, and I think they deserve a private school district of their own. Since taxpayer money built the Malibu school district, Malibu should reimburse the Santa Monica families for helping to build those schools. Otherwise, we don’t need Malibu schools.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 8, 2007. Read the original PDF.