Malibu School Divorce Update

“Why is divorce so expensive?’ asks the estranged marrieds, their embattled personal attorneys replying, “because it is worth it.”

The same can be said of Malibu’s motherless public schools breaking away from the avaricious Santa Monica School District (SMUSD.)

Though welcome, Malibu’s having its own school district will be a challenge: choosing a board of education, hiring a superintendent, retaining teachers, drafting budgets, and contending with privileged parents who seldom have heard the word no.

But first there is the finalizing of the divorce terms without leaving Malibu like so many women in this misogynist world, a single mother in deep debt, and a novice educator to boot.

The proposed tax revenue sharing agreement disclosed this week between the SMUSD and the City of Malibu is the first major step towards the creation of the long sought, still-to-be blessed, Malibu Unified School District (MUSD.

Cutting through the tax revenue tangle, the 13-page document indicates, if calculated according to present figures, the novitiate MUSD would transfer $16,468,911 to the SMUSD, which would translate into maintaining about a $18,000 per pupil level for both districts.

According to the proposal, this will change annually, for at least 20 years., though there could be an early termination depending on the varying year-to year calculated property tax amounts. It is complicated, though wonks might find it compelling.

Agreeably cutting to the core of the proposed agreement, and beyond the babble of the City Council, and the clarifications of the consultants, was councilman Bruce Silverstein, an unrepentant lawyer and under appreciated Council asset.

Silverstein noted in his support of the Agreement that it would result in no additional property taxes for Malibu property owners while generating funding for Malibu students equal to that of Santa Monica’s and the potential for more. We hope he is correct.

And he added at last Malibu would have its own school district. What it can and cannot do as a district, will be taken up in two other critical agreements yet to be released, an Operational and a Joint Powers.

Many questions and challenges remain, not the least being the selection of a local school board of persons of intelligence and dedication, with the hope it will not slip into the petty politics and parochialism of the recent self-serving City Council majorities.

But these obviously cannot be addressed until the basic issue of funding is resolved, which the Revenue Sharing Agreement has attempted to do.

Emerging after two years in mediation with an initially contentious Santa Monica contingent, the landmark agreement details the base year and annual calculations that will determine how much tax revenues Malibu will transfer to the SMUSD to achieve a 4 per cent annual growth to meet per pupil funding needs.

It is important to note that the 4 per cent is just a yardstick, and it could be modified by Santa Monica generating an increase in its tax base prompted by new developments and other stratagems.

And of course, so could Malibu, with school needs running he risk of being a ruse polemic for controversial growth. Mention of this prospect perked up councilpersons Stewart. Riggins and Grisanti.

Also in the document available to the public are bureaucratic boilerplate “protections” for both the Santa Monica and Malibu school districts and ten “what if” scenarios and outcomes. Not included was one for the various public approvals needed before the divorce becomes final, including a vote of residents.