Santa Monica : A Plea for School Funds

More than 100 students, parents, teachers and school administrators filled City Council Chambers on Tuesday night to urge council members to increase the city’s financial aid to the struggling Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. The council voted 5 to 0, with councilmen David Finkel and Herb Katz absent, to schedule a joint meeting with the district to discuss the matter within 15 days.

District and PTA officials said the kindergarten to 12th-grade district needs $3.1 million to maintain current programs and personnel for the next school year. They said state funding, the district’s primary source of income, has been cut to an alarming level. “The state hasn’t maintained its per capita student commitment,” said Mark Berenstein, chairman of the district’s budget advisory committee.

Berenstein also asked for long-term funding from Santa Monica. “This isn’t a one-year bailout, it’s a commitment by the city for many years,” he said.

Although the council gave the district $500,000 last year, Mayor Dennis Zane was conciliatory toward the officials: “It is my desire that . . . we find a way to rise to the occasion and meet the goals you discussed.”