The City of Malibu has made a second crack at proving the feasibility of an educational split between the city’s schools and Santa Monica’s.
On November 21, Malibu submitted its feasibility analysis of proposed reorganization of Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) into two separate districts, taking on nine criteria set forth by the California Department of Education (CDE). The report will now go through the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) for review, looking over whether the CDE criteria for unification can be “substantially met” or not.
The study comes after Malibu informed the LACOE Committee on School District Organization that the city wished to proceed with public hearings on its original 2017 petition to form an independent district, rather than wait for a completed unification package between the city and SMMUSD.
This is the second time that Malibu submitted a feasibility study, with the first addressed by the LACOE Division of Business Advisory Services in 2021, stating that eight of the nine CDE criteria were not substantially met. In a recent LACOE public hearing, Malibu Deputy City Attorney Christine Wood said those findings were based on “incomplete information.”
Out of the nine criteria, the first is that a new Malibu Unified School District (MUSD) “will be adequate in terms of number of pupils enrolled,” something that the LACOE division questioned in its 2021 report. The updated Malibu study reads that although a proposed MUSD would likely not meet the threshold of 1,501 students in a Unified District set forth in the California Code of Regulations, the district would “substantially meet the intent” of the criteria because “it will not be dependent on either county office of education or state support.”
The city adds that student enrollment may be increased via City Council initiatives to increase housing stock to young families, rebuilt houses from the 2018 Woolsey Fire, and recovering “families that have left the district due to dissatisfaction with SMMUSD.”
Another CDE criteria questioned in the 2021 LACOE report was community identity, stating that since Malibu families have sent students to SMMUSD schools for over 70 years, the city has a “long-standing inclusion in SMMUSD” and does “not need to start a new school district to establish community identity.” In response, the new Malibu report points to strong community identity within both the city and Santa Monica as reason for separation, adding that school communities would remain intact from the proposed reorganization.
“The proposed reorganization will provide opportunities to maintain and very likely enhance the community’s sense of identity through common goals in the school community,” the city wrote.
Aside from making its case on other criteria related to finances and division of property, Malibu had to prove its proposed split would be Promoting Educational Performance. CDE code states that any reorganization will need to “promote sound education performance and will not significantly disrupt the educational programs in the districts affected by the proposed reorganization.”
In response to this, Malibu writes that a split would see both Santa Monica and Malibu having “sufficient per pupil funding to continue to at least offer the educational programs currently offered at existing school sites,” and stated that unification can “provide programs specifically desired by the Malibu community.”
Malibu educational consultant Dr. Mike Matthews said at the recent LACOE hearing that Malibu students underperforming on exams compared to Santa Monica students also adds to the city’s case, adding that an independent district would be best suited to “look closely at those decreases in Malibu student achievement.”
The LACOE committee cancelled its December meeting, with the next opportunity to potentially hear unification updates being during its January 8, 2025 meeting. To view the full Malibu report, visit lacoe.edu/services/business/bas/county-committee.
thomas@smdp.com
