By Joy Miller Santa Monica
I was appalled to read last Saturday in the SMDP of the $13 million in cuts the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District is having to make. Then as I read page 4, I saw the library is getting a $56 million overhaul to make it more “pedestrian friendly.” Well, if the elementary students in SMMUSD are going to have to do without their music programs, maybe they can fill that time staring at the outside of the library. I’m confused as to why money cannot be allocated from one project to another. Wouldn’t it be wise to give the library only a $43 million outside restoration (which still seems excessive to me given the other social problems Santa Monica faces) and the SMMUSD keep the 65 teachers, 56 support staff, 35 department aides, elementary music programs, five nurses that are going to be fired? As well as the 12 special programs, and the increase in class size. It’s become hard to recruit college students to become teachers. California is in an educational crisis, how are students expected to use the gorgeous looking library when they can’t read because a teacher has 30 students in a class instead of 20? Or the students don’t have the skills to go look for a book in the library because they have a disability that isn’t being helped because their special courses are canceled. Are we really willing to sacrifice our children’s education for a pretty facade?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 4, 2003. Read the original PDF.