Last Friday, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s Board of Education unanimously approved a $107,808,524 million budget for fiscal year 2005-2006 with little discussion.
The District notes that the bulk of the budget will be spent on salaries and employee benefits ($94,555,084) with the balance spent on books and supplies ($3,678,861), services ($9,790,914) and miscellaneous expenses.
District revenues are projected to derive from state average daily attendance payments ($64,272,902) based on a 12,100-student enrollment, federal revenue ($4,574,810), other state revenue ($15,988,750), local revenue ($10,650,215) and parcel taxes ($10,264,263).
Local annual revenues will be generated from the City of Santa Monica ($6,180,000), the City of Malibu ($290,105), lease/rent income ($1,414,977), the PTA and others ($2,610,133).
Lease/rent income come from the Doubletree Hotel site, Madison School site at 11th Street and Arizona, and the 16th Street property.
Parcel taxes from Measure Y, at $111.63 per parcel, will generate $3,618,263 based on 32,413 parcels in the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu. Additional parcel taxes come from Measure S, at $225 per parcel, and are estimated at $6,573,000.
School District elementary schools will remain in the State’s Class Size Reduction Program for grades K-3 and the District expects to receive $964 per pupil from the State for the program.
The budget also includes funding for summer school. $238,940 has been allocated for Will Rodgers in Santa Monica and Cabrillo in Malibu. John Adams Middle School and Malibu Middle School will receive $203,712 and Santa Monica High School and Olympic High School will receive $300,558.
Funding for the School Nurse Program will come Saint John’s Hospital which has increased its contribution to $132,388 and it will continue to underwrite the District’s Infant-Family Support Program.
Before the vote, Board member Julia Brownley commented, “I think fiscally we’re in a pretty good position at the end of a year that has been pretty trying from a fiscal perspective. Three or four months ago I thought we’d be in a different place.”
The budget is based on the State’s proposed budget which was revised in May. At the June 16 Board meeting discussion, Superintendent John Deasy told the Board, “It’s a budget … that provides fiscal stability for our Board of Education and our community going into next year at a time where I think all of that statewide is going to be very very uncertain. The budget itself is able to fund our programs as they exist now and enhance and in keeping with your directives … working with schools of greatest need, making greater investment in those schools, working with our schools to increase the achievement of all students and to close the achievement gap.”
Deasy also said that the District’s budget does not respond to the measures being proposed by the Governor for the special election that has been called for November 8. Therefore, he said, “We will provide in the very early fall to the Board and the community a very detailed summary the impact of the measures when they’re fully disclosed and what they will mean to the District if they are approved by the voters.” In addition, Deasy said, he “has told school principals to maintain a stringent freeze-like condition (on expenditures) until the election.”The budget went to the County Board of Education on Monday for its approval.
