tures, more than half of which are eligible and valid signatures from a similar secession campaign in 2004.
The parents will need about 25 percent of the more than 8,300 registered voters in Malibu to sign the petition in order to get the feasibility study started. Rosenthal stressed that signing a petition isn’t necessarily an endorsement of a secession.
“When you sign the petition, you’re not saying I want to be our own district,” the former PTA president of the Point Dume Marine Science School said.
Aside from the polling locations today, parents will be out gathering signatures at grocery stores and community events, Rosenthal added.
The petition process received a unanimous support of the Malibu City Council last month, though councilmembers have not formulated an opinion as to whether they would support a split.
“That is the point of gathering the petition so we can get an analysis of whether it’s a good thing or bad thing,” said Mayor Jeff Jennings.
Reorganizing a school district begins with a petition that includes the signatures of 25 percent of the registered voters residing in the area proposing its own school district, which leaves Santa Monica voters out of the mix. Once the petition is submitted, the signatures must be validated within 30 days of receipt.
The petition then moves on to the Committee on School District Organization, an 11-member county committee that is charged with reviewing applications for reorganizing districts. The application could sit before the committee for about 180 days, a process filled with public hearings and a feasibility study that examines the financial and educational impacts to schools in both municipalities, according to county officials.
If the committee makes a favorable recommendation, the application moves on to the state Board of Education.
Since the state board meets only five time a year, handling the educational issues of 58 counties in the state, there is no set timeline as to when it would have to review the district reorganization proposal. The California board would also have to conduct its own feasibility study as well as an environmental impact report. If the application receives a favorable response by state board members, it would go before Malibu voters for approval.
The most recent call for an examination of a split came after the district’s Board of Education decided to allocate $13.5 million of Measure BB construction funds to Malibu High School to Samohi’s $57 million, sparking accusations of favoritism toward Santa Monica, shortchanging Malibu residents as a result.
Among the most vocal critics as been Malibu City Councilmember Andy Stern, who suggested last year that many residents in Malibu would be less inclined to support Measure R, the parcel tax measure on today’s ballot.
“I think their recent decision concerning Malibu has been tragic,” Stern said. “There is this enormous distrust and a loss of any feeling of good will at the moment.”
Malibu parents remain divided on the issue of secession, some, while saying that there has been a disconnected relationships between the two municipalities, feeling that a split isn’t the best way to go.
“I just think that would be too disruptive and destructive,” said James Baird, whose son graduated from Malibu High School.“Our kids have enough to deal with and I don’t think they need the uncertainty of what the future would be like if the district were to split up.”
The Malibu parent added that his son received a quality education and doesn’t feel the existing system needs to be changed.
Stacey Cummings, a mother of two, echoed the sentiment, believing there is strength in numbers.
“I think it makes sense for Malibu to stick with Santa Monica because it makes us both stronger,” she said. “Some say that Santa Monica is treated better because the district is sort of centered there, but I don’t really see it that way.”
But other parents feel a split would be beneficial for Malibu because of the lack of representation on the Board of Education.
“It’s almost like we’re out of sight, out of mind,”said Rodger Hines, a father of three children.“All of the decisions are made down in Santa Monica and it feels as if we have no say.”
Hines also pointed to the fact that the district headquarters are in Santa Monica, as well as two out of the three Board of Education meeting locations.
“Right now, if you want to get involved, you have to drive down to Santa Monica and the reality is many parents can’t make that drive because they have other things they need to be doing at home, like making sure their kids finish their homework.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 5, 2008. Read the original PDF.