City, District Staffs Draft Agreement

City would pay schools $6 million annually

   Santa Monica City Manager Susan E. McCarthy and Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent John E. Deasy, Ph.D. issued a joint statement last Wednesday, May 7, announcing that they had reached a “working consensus” on the terms of a potential agreement that would increase the City of Santa Monica’s payments to the school district for community use of school facilities to $6 million effective July 1, 2004.
   The terms of the working draft, which emerged from several months of discussions between City and school district officials, envision a five-year agreement that includes escalator and renewal clauses. The proposed agreement was presented to the School Board at its regular meeting last Thursday night (see story this page) and to the City Council last night, May 11, for discussion.
   “I believe that the proposed terms represent a fair exchange of value and preserve the ability of the City Council to respond to broader community needs,” said McCarthy. “If the elected officials concur, the city and district staff will work with their legal counsels to develop a formal agreement for execution.”
   “Support for our public schools by the City Council has never been in question,” said Deasy. “This mutually beneficial agreement, should it be approved by both the Council and Board, will provide the certainty and predictability the district needs to plan for the future while being mindful of the city’s many other fiscal responsibilities.”
   The talks between the City and the District were initiated following an announcement by a citizens’ group, Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS) that it intended to mount a campaign to put a charter amendment on the November ballot that would require the City to allocate $6 million annually to the District.
   By last week, CEPS had collected well over the 8,150 signatures of registered voters required to qualify the measure for the ballot, but, on Thursday, in the wake of the joint statement from the City and the District, CEPS issued the following statement:
   “Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS) steering committee has carefully reviewed the proposed School Funding Agreement released yesterday by SMMUSD Superintendent John Deasy and Santa Monica City Manager Susan McCarthy.
   “When the agreement as currently written is approved and executed by both the Board of Education and the Santa Monica City Council, CEPS will not feel the need to submit the more than 15,000 signatures collected in support of its Excellent Public Schools Charter Amendment.
   “CEPS is a grassroots community organization dedicated to ensuring excellent public schools for our community. CEPS supporters include: Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association, Santa Monica-Malibu Council of PTAs, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, Service Employees International Union, parents, teachers, business leaders, and hundreds of individuals dedicated to improving public education.”