The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) is holding a hearing next Wednesday, April 2, at their headquarters in Downey at 9:00 a.m. on the petition submitted by the City of Malibu to separate its schools from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD). Details on how to attend the meeting virtually or in-person can be found at the end of this article.
In 2017, the City of Malibu submitted a petition to divide the school district. LACOE has guidelines for how a separation such as the one proposed by Malibu should occur. Of the nine guidelines, the Malibu petition was found deficient in eight of them.
In 2022 Malibu and SMMUSD entered into voluntary mediation, after the petition was questioned by LACOE who will make the final decision on separation, to insure a “fair and equitable” separation.
In 2024, Malibu broke off negotiations and resubmitted its petition, the same one found deficient, charging that SMMUSD was unnecessarily stalling after the SMMUSD Board of Directors rejected a proposal from a joint SMMUSD-Malibu negotiating committee.
SMMUSD denies that charge and says they were close to reaching a mutually agreeable conclusion and that several major sticking points have been resolved. SMMUSD staff and board members were caught unaware by the resubmission and warn that if the petition is rejected it will add years to the separation process.
In a public meeting held in Malibu in November, Malibu residents and students made the case for “local control” of their schools and SMMUSD Board Members that live in Santa Monica were jeered by those in attendance.
The largest sticking point between the two government bodies isn’t nitty gritty details of the separation, but largely about the amount of money per student that will be spent under current SMMUSD operations, under the Malibu petition, and under the joint agreement that was nearly completed last year.
In a “Frequently Asked Questions” sheet (pdf) put together by SMMUSD in 2021, the District provides a forecast of what will happen under each of the scenarios. The numbers show a sharp decline in projected funding for Santa Monica students and an equally large increase for those in Malibu.
“Our projections show Malibu starting at $27,651 per student, while students in Santa Monica would be funded at $13,759. In year five, Malibu students will receive $37,599 per student, while Santa Monica per student funding will be $15,486: a five-year growth rate of 36% in Malibu vs 13% in Santa Monica,” the FAQ claims.
People that don’t live in Santa Monica may think of the city as a bastion of white liberalism, the enrollment at Santa Monica public schools under Malibu’s petition would be “majority minority” while the student population at Malibu would be nearly ¾ caucasian.
Comments on the petition can be emailed to Bernstein_Victoria@lacoe.edu.
Meeting details provided by LACOE:
Date: Wednesday ~ April 2, 2025
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Format: Hybrid (In-Person & Virtual)
In-Person Location: Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) – 9300 Imperial Highway, Board Room, Downey, CA 90242
How To Join The Meeting?
Passcode: 028856
Telephone: 1-669-900-9128
Webinar ID: 861 9810 0117
Passcode: 028856
Note: Users who do not have the Zoom application can join the meeting by clicking the link above. Cancel the Open Zoom dialog box, then click on the “Join from Your Browser” link at the bottom of the Open Zoom Meetings page.