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# Stop creating commuter schools
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/stop-creating-commuter-schools-editor/
- Published: 2007-03-27T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:18:32.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Dr. Lisette Bauersachs Santa Monica*

As the SMMUSD contemplates severe budget issues, we must remind them what is not to be cut from the budget — a top quality education for all of our children. Santa Monica High School is populated by almost 20 percent of students from Los Angeles and Culver City. The high school is overcrowded. It is becoming a commuter school. In past years, it was easier to pass out non-resident permits than to accept the fact that smaller is better when it comes to schools. This artificial means of printing money through issuance of permits to keep enrollment high in our school district costs us dearly. If student enrollment is dropping, then so should staff, accordingly.

One should ask: “If the permit system worked so well, then why are our schools not financially sound with current 1,700 permitted students?” This antiquated permit policy had failed and will continue to do so. It ruins the idea of “community schools” and creates “commuter schools.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 27, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032707.pdf?ref=smdp.com)