Schools Parcel Tax Is Narrowly Defeated—Malibu ‘No’ Voters Made a Major Difference in the Final Numbers

• Well-Funded ‘A’ Campaign Fell Short of What Was Needed by 514 Votes

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Measure A, a $198 parcel tax to fund the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, was narrowly defeated at the polls, according to updated numbers for the special mail-in election that closed on May 25.

Under California law, funding measures require a two-thirds approval, a so-called supermajority, to pass. Total registration for the SMMUSD voting precincts (Santa Monica, City of Malibu and Unincorporated Malibu) is 70,180.

Although results will not be officially certified until June 4, the official preliminary election results indicate a yes vote of 13,671, or 64.25 percent, and a no vote of 7607, or 35.75 percent—approximately 514 votes short of passage.

Santa Monica results indicate a higher level of support than the Malibu numbers, with 66.7 percent in favor and 33.3 percent opposed in Santa Monica; and 52 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed in Malibu.

The district reportedly spent a total of nearly $600,000 on Measure A, including an extra $200,000 for a special mail-in ballot, rather than opting to include the measure on the state-wide June ballot.

According to campaign disclosure statements dated May 11, the “Yes on A” campaign raised $372,557. The measure faced no organized opposition, other than a handful of letters to the editor primarily in Santa Monica publications and a website that reportedly cost opponents of the measure less than $50.

Measure A would have raised an estimated $5.7 million annually for the district for the next five years, as an emergency funding source to partially offset state budget crisis-induced cuts.

 Two days after Measure A’s defeat at the polls, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District slashed $7.1 million from its budget, a step toward closing its $12 million funding shortfall.

At the board meeting following the election, boardmember Ben Allen criticized the two-thirds, or supermajority, provision. “We should be pushing for making it easier to pass taxes,” he said. However, some observers are saying that the district failed to pay attention to the fact that the district’s taxpayers are also suffering from the budget crisis to the extent that any new tax is currently viewed as unsustainable.

“We are living in different times,” said Harry Keily, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association. Keily described the current economic climate as “the New Normal.” He called cuts to teaching staff and increases in class size unacceptable. A representative of the Financial Oversight Committee stated that the FOC was “shell-shocked” by Measure A’s failure to pass, a sentiment apparently shared by many at the SMMUSD board of education meeting that followed the election. However, the budget cuts approved by the school board were less than the $8.9 million recommended by Superintendent Tim Cuneo.

The board voted to retain six of the district’s 10 elementary school music teachers, following months of blistering criticism from parents over a plan to completely eliminate the elementary music program, and opted not to increase class sizes to the levels recommended. However, most secondary school classes will now have 35 students per teacher, up from 33 students per teacher this year. Elementary school classes will increase to a student-teacher ratio of 27 or 30 to 1, although smaller class-size will be retained for schools with low-income students. Kindergarten-third grade classes will continue to have a ratio of 23 to 1.

Four “supplemental” counselors and three “additional” counselors will be eliminated, at a savings of $638,000; two nurses will also be fired ($160,000) as will one librarian, three library assistants and all elementary library coordinators ($355,000), summer school will be trimmed by $100,000.

Some of the proposed cuts appear to critics of the district as superficial: $40,000 from conferences and travel expenses, cutting a painter and a utility worker from the payroll of the district office. Others are questioning why cuts are being made to nursing, library and music programs that serve all of the district’s students but not to athletic or extracurricular programs, or to administrative staff.

“These reductions are difficult and painful, but necessary to balance the budget due to the loss of state funding,” Superintendent Tim Cuneo stated in a press release.  “Even with these significant reductions, the board will still have to make deeper cuts in future years as well as generate ways to increase revenue districtwide.”

 The board is scheduled to approve its final budget on June 18. Even with $7.1 million in cuts, the district will have an estimate $4.9 million budget gap.

Plans are underway for a fundraising effort. The Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation recently met to discuss an ambitious a new fundraising drive.

Cuneo stated he will recommend considering a possible future local funding measure. However, he indicated that there was not sufficient time to place the item on the November ballot.

More information on certification and the official final vote tally will be available after June 4 at www.lavote.net