December 05, 2011
As expected, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education voted 6-0 last Tuesday night to curtail the raising and spending of funds by school donors and PTA groups on their neighborhood schools.
The move is supposed to narrow the achievement gap by centralizing donations and spreading them more equally among the district’s schools. There is already heavy fallout from the decision.
Aside from being generally divisive, the new policy has resulted in accelerated efforts by Malibu residents to form their own school district. The lack of a Malibuite on the current school board (whose members are elected districtwide by popular vote dominated by Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights-backed candidates) is also a sore point.
Last Monday night, Malibu’s City Council unanimously initiated the process that could lead to secession from the SMMUSD and the formation of a new Malibu school district.
To read more, go here.
Advocates for Malibu Public Schools 