Beverly Hills Dilemma : Shall City Help Pay for Schools?

The Beverly Hills City Council has proposed a change in its charter that would require the city to pay all or part of the school district’s $5.7 million budget deficit.

The council discussed the matter for the first time in public at a study session Tuesday. Further discussions are planned today at a joint meeting between the council and the Beverly Hills Unified School District board.

“This would fundamentally change the government of the city of Beverly Hills,” Councilwoman Donna Ellman said. “If the community votes for this, we will be taking on the obligation of helping to finance the schools in addition to police, fire and our other municipal obligations.”

Ellman, who supports placing the charter measure on the ballot, said a citizen’s committee should be commissioned to study and make recommendations on the measure.

Majority Vote Required

Unlike the two-thirds vote required under state law to raise taxes, a charter measure authorizing the city to help fund the schools would only have to be approved by a simple majority of the voters.

The city’s proposal, however, has been criticized by school board member Frank Fenton, who said the prospect of the measure on the ballot could jeopardize the passage of the parcel tax initiative March 3.

“Why would anybody want to vote for a parcel tax if there is going to be another election around the same time that will say that the city will pick up the tab,” he said.

The school district faces a $5.7-million shortfall in its $27-million 1987-88 budget.

The city has pledged to contribute $3.2 million to the school district under an existing joint powers agreement involving the leasing of school yards, auditoriums and libraries for public use. School officials plan to come up with the remaining $2.5 million in funds by levying a property tax or laying off up to 50 teachers next year.

If the parcel tax passes, the district would raise the $2.5 million by levying a flat tax of $270 on each of the 9,000 parcels of land registered in Beverly Hills.

Councilman Robert K. Tanenbaum, who opposes the parcel tax, said the charter change would allow the city to make direct grants to the school district without the need for a joint powers agreement. The city has investments totaling more than $100 million, but much of it is committed to projects such as the construction of the civic center.

Tanenbaum suggested that the city could have an election on the charter change as early as June or by November.

Councilman Benjamin H. Stansbury Jr. questioned whether the city has the money to bail out the schools. “The real question is how much of the city’s resources are appropriate to put into the schools,” he said.

Ellman said the city and the school district need to determine whether the contributions would violate the state Supreme Court’s landmark Serrano decision declaring the property tax system of financing public schools unconstitutional because school districts where property values were high received more money that districts where the values were low.

Potential Problems

“It is conceivable that the state may look at this as a problem,” she said.

Another potential problem, Ellman noted, would be the extent to which the school board would have control over the district if it is dependent on funds from the city to meet its budget. Or would the city maintain accountability over the funds it contributed? she asked.

School officials are less worried about the means the city uses to finance the district than they are about receiving a “long-term financial commitment from the city,” School board president Mark Egerman said. “The primary question that has to be determined is to what level the district will fund the schools, not how they will do it.”