The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution affirming the district's long-standing commitment to keep its athletic fields, gymnasiums, play areas and other facilities open to the community after school hours, regardless of the outcome of a pending parcel tax measure or the scheduled expiration of a key agreement with the city of Santa Monica.
Resolution No. 25-66 passed on a 7-0 vote. The resolution confirms that community access to district facilities will continue as a matter of district policy and state law. The commitment is not contingent on voter approval of the Excellent Santa Monica Public Schools Parcel Tax Measure on the Nov. 3, 2026, ballot, nor on the renewal of the Master Facilities Use Agreement between the district and the city, which is set to terminate June 30, 2027.
Chief Operations Officer Carey Upton, who presented the item, told the board the resolution was meant "to reaffirm both what the policy is, to clarify what came about to make it, and also to decouple a little bit." He said the practice of community use predates any formal arrangement and is grounded in California's Civic Center Act, which designates public school facilities as civic centers available for community purposes.
"The Master Facility Use Agreement did not create the practice of community use," Upton said. "But it did formalize it, and it funded around it."
Public concern has been raised that community access could be reduced or discontinued if the Master Facilities Use Agreement, known as the MFUA, is not renewed. The resolution is intended to address those concerns directly by separating the underlying access commitment from the financial agreement.
Lieberman, who requested that the item be placed on the agenda, said the goal was "to reassure people who are concerned and who haven't understood how this whole arrangement came into being, that regardless of whether a parcel tax happens or the MFUA, as it's currently constructed, goes away … the district's facilities are still going to be available in the ways that they have been."
Kean was more emphatic. "This isn't about money," he said. "This is about the school district saying, 'Hey, city, when you had the chance to build fields, you didn't do it … but we're building world-class facilities that y'all can come use, come swim in our pools, come play in our fields.'"
Rouse, who noted she lives in Malibu, said the resolution mattered regardless of the financial questions surrounding the MFUA. "We're committed as a district to make sure our families in both communities get our parks," she said. "Our budget is an ever-present concern and is overlapped in this issue, but is a separate issue from our commitment to making sure that our public grounds are doing that."
Smith, who seconded the motion, recalled her own experience as a parent in the district. "I was so, so, so grateful that the people of this community created this place where my kids had parks on the weekends," she said.
Mignano, who chaired the meeting, said the resolution reflected a broader principle. "Schools are the heart of the community," she said, "and so that's what we want to do here, and say, like, no matter what happens, we want to continue to make sure that our facilities are available to our community."
Day-to-day community use of district facilities is currently governed by four supplemental use agreements operating under the MFUA: the Playground Partnership, the John Adams Middle School agreement, the Lincoln Middle School agreement and CREST.
The Playground Partnership provides weekend and school-break access to elementary school play fields, play structures, courts, exercise paths and restrooms. Hours generally run from 9 or 10 a.m. until dusk on Saturdays, Sundays and weekdays during winter, spring and summer breaks. Use is limited to youth under 18 and families, with priority given to children 12 and under. Groups of 10 or fewer may use fields and courts without a permit; larger groups require city-issued permits.
The John Adams Middle School and Lincoln Middle School agreements operate in parallel. Both cover youth sports, camps, enrichment programs and field permitting, with access to volleyball courts, play fields, tracks, gymnasiums, outdoor courts and hardscape. Public access runs from 5 to 10 p.m. on weekday evenings during the school year, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays during school breaks, and from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends year-round. At each site, public field access is guaranteed for at least six hours per week.
CREST — short for Childcare, Recreation, Enrichment, Sports — Together — is a joint city-district after-school program established in 1999. Under the agreement, CREST clubs are provided designated classrooms, homework rooms, library and computer lab access, office space and playground use.
The Playground Partnership applies to six elementary schools: Franklin, Roosevelt, McKinley, Rogers, Grant and Edison. CREST operates at seven elementary schools: Edison, Franklin, Grant, McKinley, Ocean Park, Rogers and Roosevelt. The middle school agreements cover John Adams and Lincoln.
The current MFUA, first negotiated in 2002 and extended in 2012 and again in 2022, provides roughly $12 million annually from the city's general fund — an amount Upton said is roughly equivalent to the cost of 73 teachers' salaries and benefits.