School Board OKs Budget

• Members Stress that Most of Budget Is State Mandated

The board of the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District tentatively approved the draft budget for the 2007-2008 fiscal year at its meeting last week.

The 192-page-plus document was described by one district official as “community-unfriendly” because of the state-mandated accounting practices that shape the document. The draft, which offers no narrative or executive summary and is hard to follow, was discussed during several board meetings over the last two months.

One board member said that is why he believes there were so few questions at the Thursday session when approval was voted.

Some board members praised school district administrators for bringing what they called “transparency” to the cumbersome document. One member said the budget before them exhibited the most openness seen during their involvement with the district.

The primary ongoing district priority, according to administrators, will be alignment of staff with the number of students enrolled—a number that is expected to decline in the year ahead.