Failure of parcel tax measure leaves district in financial bind
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District recommended Friday the school board slash nearly $2.1 million in programs and services to balance its budget.
Deep cuts coupled with increased fees and a renewed program to import non-resident students make up the majority of the proposals, which must take effect by the end of the calendar year.
“And that’s only the tip of the iceberg,” said Superintendent John Deasy. “Next year we’re going to have to find a way to cut $5.5 to $6 million out of operating budget, and that’s without raises.”
“It’s catastrophic,” he added, “but it’s what we told the community would happen all along.”
The school district’s financial woes stem from a precipitous decline in state funding for education, a dramatic increase in the cost of health and retirement benefits and the defeat of Measure EE at the ballot box last week. The measure would have increased parcel taxes by $300 to stave off the budget cuts now being proposed.
The school board has been asked to recall the same committee that wrote the failed parcel tax to write another tax measure, which the district could place before voters as early as a possible special election in March 2003.
“Clearly, my interest is still consistent with trying to find a way to bring additional revenue to the school district,” said school board president Julia Brownley. “That has remained unchanged.”
Currently, the school district is running scenarios on how much larger elementary class sizes can be increased, how many teachers can be laid off and how to dismantle programs that go beyond what is minimally required by the state, Deasy said.
But Brownley said some things will not likely be cut.
“I do not believe there will be any personnel reductions,” she said. “Right now, we’re concentrating more on cutting costs and raising fees.”
By the end of this year, the school board is being asked to consider eliminating elementary school security positions, cutting the district’s extended day care program, ending Santa Monica Alternative School House’s science magnet program and shutting down bilingual immersion programs at Edison and John Muir elementary schools.
“The long-term ripple effect is so tragic in my opinion,” Deasy said. “We will lose teachers, it will be more difficult to attract top teachers and you demoralize the staff you have. It’s nothing I want to be a part of.”
“We will lose teachers, it will be more difficult to attract top teachers and you demoralize the staff you have.” — — JOHN DEASY SMMUSD Superintendent
Administrators are also recommending the school board increase the price of all meals at every grade level by 10 percent, and to double the cost of busing permits. If enacted, the cost to a family with two children being bused to school will be raised from $412 to $824 a year.
The amount charged for permits to use the district’s athletic fields, auditoriums, theaters and multi-use rooms may also be increased to raise an additional $50,000.
And the school board is being asked to consider rescinding a class size reduction plan put into effect this school year that limits the number of permits granted to non-resident children. However, the plan would have cost the district millions of dollars in state funding, which is based on total school district enrollment.
By rescinding the program, the school district would begin advertising for new students to add to already jam-packed classrooms found at schools districtwide in order to raise more state funding.
“I think increasing class sizes is a very poor solution to a very difficult problem,” Deasy said. “Teachers are already overburdened, and our faculty is already stretched to its limits, and then to put more kids in the classroom seems like a very bad idea.”
“But if it’s a possible solution, it has to be considered,” he added.
The proposed budget changes will go before the school board on Thursday, Nov. 21, and if enacted, the reductions and increased fees would take effect immediately.
“The staff is still working on putting everything together,” Brownley said. “But we’ll have to finalize it soon.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 16, 2002. Read the original PDF.