Separation setback: Back to square one

City of Malibu renews its petition for school district split

On July 18, the City of Malibu suspended mediation sessions regarding the establishment of an independent Malibu Unified School District and issued a letter to the Los Angeles County Office of Education Committee on School District Organization to resume the process for the previously filed petition, according to a press release issued by the city late on that day.

The communication noted that the city originally filed a petition with the County Committee in 2017, but eventually requested that the County Committee pause the petition process to allow time for mediation with the Santa Monica Unified School District.

“Despite dedicated efforts to find common ground and extensive progress on the revenue sharing agreement, ultimatelythe parties were unable to reach a resolution,” the release said.

Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart stated, “We have made every possible effort to work through mediation with SMMUSD, but unfortunately, we could not find a solution that adequately reflects the interests and aspirations of our community — our priority remains to provide our children with the best possible educational environment, tailored to the specific needs of Malibu.”

The city’s press release added, “Although the parties had reached an agreement on the revenue sharing agreement, the recent mediation sessions had not yielded progress on the two remaining agreements: the Operational Agreement and the Joint Powers Authority Agreement. Consequently, the city believes it is a better use of its resources to return to the County Committee Process.”

The city’s statement further explained, “By resuming the petition process with the County Committee, the city aims to gain greater control over educational resources, curricula, and school management, ensuring that the unique characteristics of the community are effectively addressed — put simply, this move will allow Malibu to achieve local control as quickly as possible.”

Readers may recall that in 2020, City Councilmembers Rick Mullen and Karen Farrer served on the city’s ad hoc committee. In October 2020, that committee reported that negotiations regarding the financial arrangements of the separation stalled. Thus, the council decided to move forward with the petition.

Subsequently, the parties paused the petition proceedings to pursue mediation. Now, the city deems the mediation process to be at an impasse and has therefore again reinstated the petition process.

SMMUSD’s response

In response, SMMUSD issued a strong statement noting first that LACOE “has been made aware of this unexpected decision by Malibu and will announce next steps in the petition consideration process.”

Elaborating, SMMUSD Board of Education Vice President Jon Kean, a unification subcommittee member, stated, “We are extremely disappointed that the city has chosen this path that will now inevitably delay this process by many years.”

Kean added, “after years of hard work, we were less than three months away from forming two independent school districts that could provide similar programs to what exists today on day one of operation. More work was needed to finalize the agreements, but to walk away from a potential solution that meets the core tenets of our mediation and long-held goals is the city’s choice, and it is unconscionable. In three months, we could have achieved what community members have sought for decades.”

SMMUSD attorney David Soldani stated, “The district created a timeline to complete unification once and for all in partnership with the city. Going back to a fatally flawed 2017 petition is a baffling decision and the district has no choice but to fight the city’s attempt to disenfranchise SMMUSD students residing in Santa Monica.”

Soldani also stated that “the district remains willing to reinstate the mutually agreed upon timeline and attempt to complete the unification process by the end of October, but this cannot occur while it must fight a petition that has been proven to be unfair.”

The Malibu Times will keep readers updated regarding further developments.

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