CEPS puts its popularity to test this month
Local school boosters have given themselves 18 days to gather an estimated 3,500 signatures to put a controversial charter amendment on the November ballot.
The leaders from the Community for Excellent Public Schools contend that securing an average of 194 new signatures each day is definitely within their reach.
“I’m confident that we’re going to get the signatures required to put this on the ballot,” said Shari Davis, CEPS co-chair. “We’ve employed a variety of strategies to make sure we’ve covered all our bases.”
“I’m confident that we’re going to get the signatures required to put this on the ballot.” — — SHARI DAVIS Co-chair, CEPS
The charter amendment put forward by CEPS would force City Hall to dedicate at least $6 million to the local school district each year, with additional funding going to schools when the city’s $150 million general fund budget grows. The city oversees a total budget of $350 million, including dedicated funds.
777,A combination of targeted mailings, phone banking, and volunteer and paid signature gatherers have already netted about 7,500 signatures in support of the proposal, said Ralph Mechur, a CEPS member. Though it needs only 8,640 signatures — or 15 percent of Santa Monica’s 57,596 registered voters — to qualify its measure for the ballot, CEPS hopes to gather 11,000 signatures.
“To be honest, not every signature we have is a valid signature,” Mechur said.
CEPS workers will launch a major signature gathering effort April 24. The group has set May 1 as an internal deadline to collect the signatures, which must be handed over to the City Clerk’s Office for verification.
While CEPS members said the cutoff date is the first week of May, technically, they have more time. Assistant City Clerk Beth Sanchez on Tuesday said the school boosters actually have until July 20, which is 180 days from when the ballot request was formally recognized on Jan. 21. Once they get the signatures, the City Clerk’s Office must draft a resolution and ask the county to place the item on the November ballot. Because doing that can be time-consuming, the City Clerk’s Office has asked CEPS to turn in their signatures in May, if possible.
Davis declined to say how many paid signature gatherers there are or how much CEPS has paid a consultant hired for their campaign. There are about 200 volunteer signature gatherers, she said.
“Every school has worked hard to get volunteers and they’ve been working hard within their communities,” Davis said.
The April 24 effort will include posting signature gatherers at high-traffic locations like supermarkets, as well as knocking on individual doors in residential neighborhoods throughout Santa Monica. Mechur said so far volunteers have gathered 90 percent of the required signatures, but added paid signature gatherers may be relied upon more heavily as the deadline approaches.
Many city leaders — including several council members — have come out against the proposed measure, saying it’s irresponsible to dedicate money without designating a revenue source. What’s more, they claim amending the city’s charter is too rigid a reaction to the funding crisis, one that will lead to cuts in other important areas, as well as a reduced bond rating for the city.
CEPS supporters counter that taking $6 million from City Hall’s general fund — the equivalent of 4 percent — is a small investment for a key resource. The proposal also calls for “accelerating” that amount by one percentage point each year if the general fund grows by 3.5 percent. As a charter amendment, it would last indefinitely.
The school district had to close a $13 million shortfall in state funding last year. It did so by cutting programs, laying off workers and receiving $5.25 million from City Hall, $2.25 million of which was in “one-time” funds which aren’t guaranteed this year.
Meanwhile, City Hall leaders plan to meet April 28 with officials from the local school board and Santa Monica College to discuss options. In two previous meetings, they discussed possibly providing $6 million to the schools, but not offering the accelerator.
Davis said CEPS was initially optimistic about the talks, but that the discussions hit a roadblock when officials didn’t offer to include an accelerator similar to the one provided in the proposed charter amendment.
“At first, we were encouraged at some progress being made, but the last meeting was disappointing,” Davis said. “We’ll see what happens on the 28th.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 14, 2004. Read the original PDF.