FAQs | sm4reliableschoolfunding

The Facts

It is designed to prevent the need to lay off as many as 73 teachers, and/or the elimination of critical programs for disadvantaged students, early childhood education, and art, music, and math education.

It allows for continued community access to school playing fields, school auditoriums, and classrooms that are currently used after school hours by youth sports groups, such as AYSO, adult sports leagues, the Boys and Girls Club, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and families, because the city doesn’t have enough park space. Community groups also use the auditoriums for large community events, such as on Martin Luther King Day.

It creates a reliable and consistent funding mechanism to protect Santa Monica’s students, teachers, and excellent public schools through a parcel tax.

What will this measure do?

Who benefits from this Measure?

Everyone in Santa Monica benefits from this measure:

By protecting the quality of our excellent public schools, property values will increase for homeowners, our community will be more stable, and we will attract quality businesses and generate local revenue for city services.

Studies prove that an excellent public school system reduces poverty, reduces criminal activity, drug use, and teen pregnancy. In short, excellent schools help improve the overall quality of life for renters, homeowners, and even local business owners.

Why is this measure necessary now?

In the past, the City of Santa Monica helped fund our schools, which is how our school district has maintained its high standards, despite ongoing education cuts from the State. However, with the City in financial distress, largely due to slow economic recovery from COVID, this supplemental funding to our schools will most likely end in 2027. Therefore, this permanent alternative source of school funding is critical.

What is the source of this funding?

The City will receive an annual parcel tax of $495 per parcel of taxable real property located within the City of Santa Monica. The amount of the parcel tax will be adjusted annually for inflation as provided in the measure.

What is a parcel tax?

It is a local tax on property that charges a flat fee per parcel, whether it’s a small bungalow or a big commercial building. The funds collected are used locally.

How much will renters pay?

Property owners of most rent-controlled units are allowed to pass on surcharges for education, stormwater, and beaches and ocean.

This will include the pass-through for the parcel tax, if the measure we are trying to get on the ballot passes in November. The

maximum total of all surcharges combined that a landlord can pass through to tenants cannot exceed $35/month, or 4% of the

monthly rent. The estimated surcharge increase per rent-controlled unit will be about 12 cents a day, if that. This is a small price

to pay for all the benefits we will get by keeping our schools strong.

How much will homeowners pay?

$495 per parcel of taxable real property located within the City of Santa Monica.

Who is exempt from paying the parcel tax?

Senior citizens (age 65 or older) who reside in the property as a primary residence.
Non-profit organizations with 501(c)(3) status.
An Affordable Housing Development Project, as defined in the measure, if certain requirements are met.
Religious organizations or schools that are exempt from property taxes.

How do we know the money will stay in Santa Monica and be used appropriately
by the School District?

The City will be legally required to give all revenue from the measure to the Santa Monica-Malibu School District. The state or federal government cannot take away these funds, nor is the money contingent on future state or federal education funding.

There will be third-party financial oversight to evaluate the School District’s annual expenditures of the Parcel Tax monies received by the district.