After an hour-long conference with legal counsel, the city of Malibu stated that it is moving forward with an attempt to create an independent Malibu Unified School District, without continued negotiation with Santa Monica-Malbú Unified School District (SMMUSD) officials. ). Instead, the city will go to the Los Angeles County School District Organization Committee with its original 2017 school. separation request.

“As the school board (SMMUSD) did not approve the agreement recommended by its committee within the mutually agreed upon timelines, the City Council voted unanimously to advance its request unilaterally with the County Committee with an independent feasibility study that does not include a series of generous financial terms that the city has offered in an effort to work together,” Malibu City Attorney Trevor Rusin stated after the closed-door session. “The city requests that the committee consider the independent feasibility study and the petition at upcoming hearings in November.”

Malibu said its latest feasibility study presented to the committee incorporates “much of the financial and operational groundwork” developed during what are already years of negotiations. In September 2021, a LACOE Business Advisory Services Division preliminary report The committee addressed the feasibility study of the original petition, ultimately noting that eight of the California Department of Education’s (CDE) nine unification criteria “may not be substantially met.”

Of these criteria, the LACOE division stated that a proposed Malibu USD may not be able to maintain enrollment, and that a split between the Malibu and Santa Monica educational entities “would likely impact” school housing costs and fiscal management of the districts of Malibu and Santa Monica. . Another CDE criterion is “community identity,” which the 2021 report also questioned.

“Because the area proposed for a Malibu USD has been part of the Santa-Monica Malibu USD for more than 70 years and has sent students to Santa Monica area schools for more than 100 years, (Malibu has) an inclusion lasting in Santa Monica. Monica-Malibu USD and starting a new school district is not necessary to establish community identity,” the 2021 report stated.

This statement runs counter to Malibu’s motivations in the unification process, which the city said would provide Malibu residents with “local control” and reflect “the unique needs and values ​​of the community.”

In September, the Malibu and SMMUSD unification subcommittees announced a comprehensive unification package with three key tenants: a revenue sharing agreement, an operational transfer agreement, and a joint powers agreement. This came two months after Malibu attempted to have the LACOE committee consider its original request, a position that was later reversed during a LACOE meeting in August.

The Malibu and SMMUSD unification subcommittees hoped to have finalized approval of a complete unification package by the end of October. The SMMUSD Board of Education held a discussion topic on the matter during an Oct. 15 meeting, and ultimately decided that more discussion was needed, which SMMUSD Board Vice President and unification subcommittee member Jon Kean said. that it was about doing things “right.”

In a statement Monday, Kean said the process requires time to “listen to concerns and incorporate valid suggestions” from district employees, address feedback from students and their families and “provide detailed details of the legal and practical ramifications for both communities of this historical process.”

“SMMUSD will not place artificial obstacles or random dates as a deterrent to rigorously finalizing these agreements,” Kean said. “What some might see as a brief delay, others will see as due diligence, proper governance and careful attention to detail. We are on the verge of completing this arduous process, which was once thought to be impossible. “The District will continue to place the needs of all students as our timeline.”

The LACOE committee will consider the 2017 petition with the updated feasibility study at two upcoming public hearings, one scheduled for Nov. 8 in the SMMUSD District Office Board Room and another for Nov. 13 at the High School Malibu.

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