Santa Monica-Malibu Board of Education Passes $118.1 Million Budget

With a few minutes to spare, the Board of Education on Thursday night approved the 2011-12 fiscal year budget for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District prior the midnight deadline. The tight squeeze on getting the budget passed was because most of the night was taken up by the discussion of .

The budget calls for $118.1 million in general fund spending. The district does not expect to receive enough revenue to cover this amount, so about $3.6 million will be taken from the SMMUSD's reserve to make up the difference. The amount of money the district will need to take from the reserve next fiscal year is expected to increase.

"We need to address that," said Jan Maez, chief financial officer for the SMMUSD. "We need to start developing a fiscal plan to take care of that … operating deficit."

For the first time in several years, the board was able to pass an SMMUSD budget based on an approved state budget. Gov. Jerry Brown signed off on Sacramento's plan earlier in the night. But this does not mean the district has no need to worry about mid-year cuts. The state budget was approved under the assumption Sacramento would be collecting about $4 billion more in tax revenue than previously expected. If this calculation turns out to be incorrect, the state could make mid-year education cuts.

While a majority of the district's revenue comes from Sacramento (54 percent), local funding continues to increase. For 2011-12, the SMMUSD will receive 33 percent of its revenue from local sources. This includes $10.8 million through the parcel tax, $5.5 million through the Santa Monica sales tax, $8 million from the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu (with a vast majority coming from Santa Monica) as well as donations from the PTAs and other sources. Maez said the amount of local funding for the SMMUSD was unusually high when compared with other districts in California.

Most SMMUSD spending (88 percent) is on staff salaries and benefits. Nine percent goes to operating services (mostly insurance and utility bills), 2 percent is used for supplies and 1 percent covers other costs.