Will Santa Monica Students Pay The Price If Malibu Separates?

SANTA MONICA, CA — To understand the questions raised over creating a separate Malibu Unified School District and disbanding from Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District — it's important to follow the money — and know the costs of this potential split.

The Santa Monica City Council announced its support for splitting Santa Monica and Malibu into two separate, independent school districts — only if the terms of separation, including the division of revenues and assets, are fair and just to Santa Monica students and schools, and provide robust and equal education for students in both Malibu and Santa Monica, officials said Wednesday.

During a Santa Monica City Council meeting Tuesday night, the councilmembers described the terms and conditions they would agree to for the split to happen, with several expressing concern over lack of diversity in the proposed Malibu district and how less funding for Santa Monica students could create more inequity among students.

“The Santa Monica City Council will continue to advocate for what is just and what serves the common good of Santa Monica and Malibu students and families alike,” Mayor Sue Himmelrich said. “Slashing diversity and per pupil funding for Santa Monica students alone is inappropriate and will damage academic and social equity across all of the students and families served by SMMUSD.”

The 13-item motion came at the request of Mayor Sue Himmelrich, Mayor Pro Tem Kristin McCowan, and Councilmember Phil Brock after an April 17 date was set for the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization to hear Malibu’s petition to split from SMMUSD.

In a letter to the members of the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization sent on March 10, Mayor Sue Himmelrich and Mayor Pro Tem Kristin McCowan wrote:

“The Malibu Petition would jeopardize this careful balance and the wellbeing of all SMMUSD students by reducing per pupil expenditures for Santa Monica students for the next quarter century while creating a far better funded and significantly less diverse Malibu USD. Indeed, SMMUSD projections show that in year one of divided districts created under the Malibu Petition, Malibu USD would be approximately 78.4% White with per pupil funding starting at $27,651, while Santa Monica USD would have the benefit of SMMUSD’s hallmark diversity but be funded at only $13,759 per pupil (less than half the per pupil expenditure for Malibu USD students). This dramatic inequity would only worsen over time: Pursuant to the proposed formula for revenue growth, Malibu schools would receive approximately $37,599 per student in year five, while Santa Monica per student funding would be $15,486.”

“In Santa Monica, we believe that access to opportunities for learning and growing for all members of our community is key to our individual and collective wellbeing. We take pride in supporting SMMUSD as it strives to achieve its mission across the Santa Monica and Malibu communities of ‘extraordinary achievement for all students while simultaneously closing the achievement gap.’ Because the Malibu Petition would be in grave disservice to SMMUSD students, we implore you to disapprove the Malibu Petition and to ensure that, if SMMUSD is to split into two separate districts, the division of revenues and assets will be fair and just to students in Santa Monica schools and provide robust and equal educational opportunities for both Malibu and Santa Monica students.”

SMMUSD Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati voiced concern over projections presented at a Malibu City Council meeting in the fall that separation would result in unequal funding for independent Santa Monica and Malibu districts.

"Their consultants' projections show Malibu starting at $16,494 per student, while students in Santa Monica would be funded at $13,592," Drati wrote. "Based on the Malibu formula for revenue growth, in year five, Malibu students will receive $25,998 per student, while Santa Monica per student funding will be $14,264: a five-year growth rate of 58% in Malibu vs 5% in Santa Monica."

"Youth and children in Malibu and the surrounding unincorporated area have attended schools within the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) since prior to the City's incorporation," according to the city of Malibu. "Local school families and community groups have long expressed the desire to separate from SMMUSD to form a separate Malibu Unified School District (MUSD)."

The city filed a petition to separate from SMMUSD in August 2017, arguing that the two communities are far apart, both geographically and culturally, and as a result many parents in greater Malibu have expressed a desire for their own district. The petition also took issue with the school board's at-large elections, which are required by the Santa Monica city charter. Because Malibu's population is only about 15 percent of Santa Monica's, it is often under-represented on the seven-member board. There is currently only one board member, Craig Foster, sitting on the SMMUSD Board. In the 2020 SMMUSD race, no candidates were from Malibu.

In October Malibu City Council voted unanimously to move forward with creating a Malibu Unified School District, separate from Santa Monica.

“Having sent our children to local Malibu schools, this issue could not be more dear to our hearts," said Councilmember Karen Farrer and Councilmember Rick Mullen, members of the City’s School District Separation Ad Hoc Committee, in a statement. "We are disappointed in the SMMUSD negotiations but are encouraged by the work that has been done and are very excited to be moving the City’s petition for unification of a Malibu Unified School District forward."

The city of Malibu has asked residents to share public comments on why they want a separate school district.

- Patch Editors Michael Wittner and Nicole Charky contributed to this report.

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