ITEM 6-M

City Council Meeting 3/3/92

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        -    $1,286,950 (85.8%)
Books & Supplies                    -    $   39,000 (2.6%)
Services                            -    $  117,000 (7.8%)
Capital Outlay                      -    $   25,550 (1.7%)
Other Expenses                      -    $   31,500 (2.1%)
                                         $1,500,000 (100%)

$500,000 for the following  special  pupil-oriented  programs  in
Santa Monica:

Multi-Cultural Education            -    $   99,382
Freshman Focus-S.M. High School     -    $   91,260
Graduation Assistance Program at    -    $  202,800
   Santa Monica High School
Librarian at S.M. High School       -    $   62,718
School Nurse                        -    $   43,840
                                         $  500,000

    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'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  units  to  graduate  are  the ones who tend to
       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
       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