School group focuses on its next strategic move
By MICHAEL TITTINGER Daily Press Staff Writer
Frustrated with City Hall’s reluctance to substantially increase funding to its schools on a permanent basis, a group of school supporters are taking their case to the people.
Residents of Santa Monica will be hearing a lot about the “Community for Excellent Public Schools” in the weeks and months to come, as volunteers of the school-funding activist group gear up and try to rally support in attempts to amend the city charter, and force the City Council to cough up more money for schools.
“We’ve heard them say some very negative things about the proposed amendment,” noted CEPS co-chair Shari Davis on Wednesday, “which is hard to understand.”
The proposed amendment would force City Hall to forward no less than $6 million of its annual revenues to the school district — twice the regular $3 million contribution — or about 4 percent of designated general funds, whichever is greater.
Also, funding to the district would be modestly increased each year — but only when the city’s revenues grow by at least 3.5 percent.
However, in order to place the proposed amendment on the November ballot, the group must first collect 9,000 signatures over the next three months.
“It looks like we’ll be hitting the streets in the next week or so,” said CEPS spokesperson Rebecca Soladay Kennerly. “We’ll have a good discussion when we meet again on Friday.”
Kennerly indicated that wording on the petition was still being finalized and that a strategy for gathering the 9,000 necessary names — which amounts to approximately 100 a day — will be agreed upon by week’s end.
Still, CEPS members had been holding out hope that the amendment and all the mass signature-collecting would have been rendered unnecessary, preferring to see the City Council adopt a long-term plan that would provide the school district with an ongoing source of funding every year.
“This is a carefully constructed policy that will benefit the community, the city and its schools,” Davis said. “There’s no need on the part of the city to be pitting one another against each other.
“This can be a very unifying policy, as schools are the foundation for a strong public policy.”
The mission to cull additional funding for schools on a permanent basis has proven to be a unifying experience for the members of CEPS, a broad-based coalition that counts as members such disparate personalities as Santa Monicans For Renters Rights party co-founder Denny Zane and Chris Harding, a land use attorney who often battles SMRR on behalf of the business community.
The group consists primarily of parents — those with children currently enrolled in Santa Monica schools and those whose children have already emerged from the system.
The exact tactics CEPS plans to employ to collect some 3,000 signatures a month for the next three months have yet to be agreed upon, but residents can expect to hear from the lobbying group soon. CEPS has been hard to ignore over the course of the past two years since its inception. Speaking at Tuesday’s council meeting on behalf of the organization and its goal of increased funding were superintendent of schools John Deasy and Jose Escarce, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s Board of Education.
CEPS has reportedly conducted extensive research, including public opinion polls via phone to gauge whether the community would support such a measure.
“We had some really good speakers (Tuesday) night,” said Davis, who admitted she was heartened by the number of non-member city residents who spoke to the council in support of increased school funding.
With more than a $350 million annual budget, school supporters believe City Hall can afford to continue its financial commitment to the district. But they don’t want to have to ask every year, hence the charter amendment.
“CEPS is focusing on the positive,” Davis said. “We’re doing this for the schools, as well as the benefits it will provide to everyone.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 29, 2004. Read the original PDF.