The seemingly unending process to establish a standalone school district in Malibu is taking yet another detour but whether the process is derailed, or just delayed, is yet to be seen.
On July 18, the City of Malibu announced it has reactivated a County regulatory process to create its own school district. The move came as a surprise to many after two years of what appeared to be progress in the slowly moving discussions to strike a deal between the City and the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD).
The City of Malibu has spent years advocating for its own school system arguing that it is underrepresented by the joint school board due to a lack of voting power and that the needs of Malibu students are not adequately met by the Santa Monica-based district administration. The City began a formal process with the Los Angeles County Office of Education in 2017 to ask for a split, but paused that application in 2022 when both sides released the terms of a proposed agreement.
"After extensive conversations, negotiations and mediations, both the City of Malibu and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District agree that it is now in the best interest of all students that a mutually agreed to process for the formation of an independent Malibu Unified School District and Santa Monica Unified School District be pursued jointly by the two parties," said the document.
The general terms of the split were that the proposed Santa Monica Unified School District would retain all school sites in the City of Santa Monica as well as all local revenues; the same would be true for Malibu under a new Malibu Unified School District, with the addition of revenue from the unincorporated portions of LA County often referred to as "unincorporated Malibu."
At that time, a date of July 2024 had been floated as the earliest potential date for the two cities to split. However, the major sticking point in negotiations, potential loss of funding for Santa Monica students after Malibu departs, quickly scuttled that timeline.
A fiscal deal was announced last year under which Malibu would make annual payments to Santa Monica schools to ensure funding levels remain consistent, with a 4% annual growth rate for about 18 years.
The revenue sharing involved two main calculations: a base year calculation and an annual calculation. The base year calculation establishes a funding target based on the cost to serve Malibu students, adjusted per pupil, multiplied by the number of students in Santa Monica schools. If Santa Monica’s revenues fall below this target, Malibu will cover the shortfall through property tax transfers.
Subsequent years would see the funding target increase by 4% annually. If Santa Monica’s revenues exceed this target, no transfer is required from Malibu for that year. The revenue sharing continues until termination, which can occur after three consecutive years without a transfer or in 2041-42, with tapering payments leading to termination by 2051-52 if transfers are less than $5 million.
Both sides had protections in the agreement, including adjustments if transfers cause undue fiscal pressure on Malibu and guaranteed annual revenue growth for Santa Monica schools.
Despite what appeared to be progress on the finances, Malibu said other negotiations stalled.
"Although the parties had reached an agreement on a Revenue Sharing Agreement, the recent mediation sessions had not yielded progress on the two remaining agreements: the Operational Agreement and the Joint Powers Authority Agreement," said the City of Malibu in a statement. "Consequently, the City believes it is a better use of its resources to return to the County Committee process. By resuming the petition process with the County Committee, the City aims to gain greater control over educational resources, curricula, and school management, ensuring that the unique characteristics of the community are effectively addressed. Put simply, this move will allow Malibu to achieve local control as quickly as possible."
Malibu formally asked for the county process to be restarted on July 11.
"We have made every possible effort to work through mediation with SM-MUSD, but unfortunately, we could not find a solution that adequately reflects the interests and aspirations of our community," said Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart in a written statement. "Our priority remains to provide our children with the best possible educational environment, tailored to the specific needs of Malibu."
The school district said Malibu’s decision to withdraw from the process and pursue a County solution was "baffling" as the petition is insufficient under County rules and hurts Santa Monica students.
"After years of work we were less than three months away from forming two independent school districts that could provide similar programs to what exists today on day one of operation," said SMMUSD Board of Education Vice President and unification sub-committee member Jon Kean. "More work was needed to finalize the agreements but to walk away from a potential solution that meets the core tenets of our mediation and long held goals is the City’s choice and it is unconscionable. In three months we could have achieved what community members have sought for decades."
Kean said SMMUSD would return to the negotiations to hammer out the final details but only if Malibu pauses its petition.
"We are extremely disappointed that the City has chosen this path that will now inevitably delay this process by many years," said Kean. "Our hope is that the County Committee honors the agreed upon timeline and delays this petition so we can finish unification once and for all."
matt@smdp.com
