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# Mayor’s first priority: Bail out local schools
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/mayors-first-priority-bail-out-local-schools/
- Published: 2003-01-02T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T01:15:40.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import

*New mayor wants city council meetings to be more concise*

The upcoming year will be nothing short of challenging, but Santa Monica’s new mayor said he’s ready for it.

With close to an $18 million budget shortfall expected for the city next year and a growing multi-million dollar deficit in the local school district, Mayor Richard Bloom plans to help steer the ship into smoother waters.

His first goal in 2003 is to help the school district find its way to economic health. In light of recent cuts by the state in education, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District could be short $18 million in state funding next year. As it stands, after already making several multi-million dollars cuts, the school district is still $3.4 million short this year.

Superintendent of Schools John Deasy suggested last month that schools be shut down for 10 days to save an estimated $3.1 million, which would avoid laying off employees and eliminating programs like art and music. Deasy criticized the state for not making education a priority and said unorthodox solutions must be found.

Mayor Bloom said while the city may not be able to help the school district financially, it can provide support in the political arena.

“(John) Deasy has started a bold trend of being critical of the state’s policies,” he said. “It’s fundamentally a political issue and the city and the school district can join hands to find money from where it makes sense, which is the state and federal government.

“We can provide the leadership for the school district that will be noticed,” Bloom added.

> “We can provide the leadership for the school district that will be noticed.” — — RICHARD BLOOM Santa Monica Mayor

With the failure of Measure EE this past November which asked voters to increase their parcel taxes to fund the school district, Bloom hopes the community this year will realize how desperately local schools need money.

“We rested on our laurels in the last election and thought everyone was intuitive on why we needed it,” he said. “We need to a better job of explaining to voters why a parcel tax is necessary.”

Bloom, who has two teen-age sons, doesn’t like Deasy’s proposal to close school for two weeks, but he agrees that the state hasn’t given local school districts much choice.

“I don’t like that our children will miss out on educational time,” he said. “But I think it’s focusing in the right place of sending a very strong message.”

The other priority for Bloom is to get Santa Monica back on its feet financially and keep its strong bond rating intact.

5E3,“We have to maintain our fiscal integrity and all of the good planning that our staff has laid out in past years, and the city council, has allowed us to be in a lot stronger of a position than other cities,” Bloom said. “There is no question that (the local economy) will get better. The question is when.

“We always will be a place where will people want to live, work and recreate,” he added. “It’s the trifecta of successful cities.”

Bloom wants not only the city to run more efficiently, but also the council meetings, which are known for running into the early morning hours.

A primary function of the mayor is to run council meetings and set the agenda. Bloom, known for his soft spoken demeanor, is the opposite of some of his colleagues because he seems to do more listening than talking while on the dais.

“That’s one of my messages — if we want our meetings to run efficiently then we all need to work together,” he said. “Be concise and try to speak sparingly.”

Bloom said another goal for the upcoming year is to ensure that an arts endowment fund for local schools, which was partially funded by the city, moves forward.

The goal is to raise $10 million through community fundraising for music and arts programs in the schools. The city has provided a $500,000 conditional grant to begin the project, Bloom said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 2, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010203.pdf?ref=smdp.com)