SR-6-M (25)
CM:LCB:dvm(School)
City Council Meeting 3/3/92
6-M
MAR'~ 199
Santa Monica, Californiav t
.,.
TO: Mayor and city council
FROM: City staff
SUBJECT: School District Subsidy
Introduction
During the 1991-92 budget public hearing, the Council requested
that an expenditure plan be presented for the $2 million granted
by the City to the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District
prior to release of the final $500/000 funding increment. This
report presents the plan as submitted by the school district and
requests authorization to release the final $500,000 installment.
Expenditure Plan
The following plan has been submitted by school district
officials:
$1,500,000 for general operations as follows:
Employee Salaries & Benefits
Books & Supplies
Services
Capital Outlay
Other Expenses
$1,286,950 (85.8%)
$ 39,000 (2.6%)
$ 117,000 (7.8%)
$ 25,550 (1.7%)
$ 31,500 (2.1%)
$1/500,000 (100%)
$500/000 for the following special pupil-oriented programs in
Santa Monica:
Multi-cultural Education
Freshman FOCllS-S.M. High School
Graduation Assistance Program at
Santa Monica High School
Librarian at S.M. High School
School Nurse
$ 99/382
$ 91,260
$ 202,800
$ 62,718
$ 43,840
$ 500,000
6-11
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I '1.-1~.3 lS:;;~
1. Multicultural Education - $99,382
Although the District has had a number of programs
designed to enhance intergroup relations and to foster
multicultural education, the "hate letter" incident last
May heightened the sense of urgency to expand the
District I s efforts in this regard. The money allocated
will employ a multicultural coordinator, support staff
training and curriculum development.
2. Freshman Focus - $91,260
During the 1990 - 91 school year, Santa Monica High School
initiated a Freshman Focus program in response to concerns
that many freshmen were having difficulty in making the
adjustment to a high school and the high failure rates
among ninth grade students. The program was built around
the core teacher concept that has been so successful in
the District's middle schools. The money allocated
assured maintenance of the program that was so successful
the first year and permitted expansion to serve almost 60%
of all freshmen. Student, parent and faculty response to
the program has been overwhelmingly positive.
3. Graduation Assistance Program (GAP) - $202,800
As the District's population has become increasingly
diverse there has been increasing concern about the high
drop-out rate among minority students. Students who do
not do well in the traditional program and discover by
their junior year that they will not have a sufficient
number of uni ts to graduate are the ones who tend to
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drop-out. The Graduation Assistance Program was designed
to help provide an alternative, highly individualized
program that permits students to catch up with the work
they did not master and to earn the units that will
qualify them to graduate on time. This program has also
been extremely successful in achieving its objectives and
has a waiting list.
4. Librarian, Santa Monica High School - $62,718
For the past several years the District has funded two
full-time librarian positions at Santa Monica High School.
Because of an extremely tight fiscal position, reducing
the number of positions from two to one was proposed for
the 1991-92 school year. The money provided by the City
permitted the District to retain two full positions which
we believe is important for a high school serving 2,700
students. Retaining two librarians has also permitted the
District to move forward with its efforts to increase the
amount of electronic technology that is utilized to access
data bases and library resources.
5. School Nurse - $43,840
Retirement of employees over the years has given the
District an opportunity to reduce its staff for budgetary
purposes. At the end of the 1990-91 school year, one
District nurse retired and it was recommended, as a cost
saving measure, not to replace the position. Health
services are highly valued by parents and the faculty and
such a cut would have been deemed highly undesirable and
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would have reduced our ability to provide health related
services to students. The additional funding provided by
the City permitted the District to retain in 1991 - 92 the
same level of health services as offered during the
previous year.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the final $500,000 of the funds allocated
in the 1992 - 93 budget be released to the SMMUSD.
prepared By: Lynne C. Barrette
Assistant City Manager
(school)
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