The following submission is from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) and the City of Malibu entered into a mediation process in 2022 in the hope of achieving a fair and equitable unification, in other words, split into two school districts. This included the City of Malibu placing its 2017 Unification Petition on hold in favor of mediating the matter with the school district.
However, the District was recently informed that the City has abandoned mediation and instead has opted to pursue its 2017 Petition once again. The 2017 Petition, which previously underwent several public hearings in both communities, was found to be insufficient according to the County Committee’s consultant’s report from Sept. 2021.
After two years of collaborative work through the mediation process, SMMUSD and the City of Malibu agreed upon a general timeline for completion of the unification process with each entity voting on the entire unification package by the end of October. By this time, community members in Santa Monica and Malibu would have had adequate time to review the three agreements that form the basis for a viable unification process: a revenue sharing agreement, an operations transfer agreement, and a joint powers agreement.
However, the District was informed that the City no longer is honoring this mutually agreed upon timeline and instead is seeking a vote on the 2017 petition it previously submitted. As the petition does not meet at least seven of the nine criteria needed for unification and would impose devastating hardships upon students in the Santa Monica area, the District has no choice but to oppose this petition vehemently.
SMMUSD Board of Education Vice President and unification sub-committee member Jon Kean shared, “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. 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.”
“The District created a timeline to complete unification once and for all in partnership with the City” shared SMMUSD Attorney David Soldani. “Going back to a fatally flawed 2017 petition is a baffling decision and the District has no choice but to fight the City of Malibu’s attempt to disenfranchise SMMUSD students residing in Santa Monica.”
The District remains willing to reinstate the mutually agreed upon timeline and attempt to complete the unification process by the end of October, but this cannot occur while it must fight a petition that has been proven to be unfair.
“If the City of Malibu tells the County Committee to hold the petition until after November the District would gladly return to mediation and work collaboratively to achieve unification” said Kean. “But we cannot be the only side willing to do this work. Malibu wanted an independent district and the finish line was in sight. Them abandoning a fair and equitable solution now is baffling.”
The Los Angeles County Office of Education Committee on School District Organization has been made aware of this unexpected decision by Malibu and will announce next steps in the petition consideration process.
“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.”
