The San Marino Unified School District recently hosted a “Lunch and Learn” meeting for resident stakeholders, where SMUSD Chief Business Officer Michael Lin broke down the federal, state and city funding for local schools.
To dispel misconceptions and clarify the district’s financing sources, Lin’s presentation focused on the importance of local bond initiatives and dollars derived from nonresidential permit students which underpin the San Marino education system.
He kicked off the meeting with a general overview of how education is funded across the United States, highlighting that California receives $16,300 per student per year for K-12 education, while New York receives $30,300, Oregon $18,100 and Washington $19,500 per student.
Within California, Lin provided a breakdown of other similarly-sized or nearby school districts. According to the California Department of Education financial data from 2021-22, Azusa Unified pulled in $19,848 per student per year, while Alhambra Unified posted $17,182, Monrovia $15,265, South Pasadena Unified $12,181 and La Cañada Unified $11,948. SMUSD garnered $12,517 in 2021-22, just ahead of SPUSD.
“So in California we are below the national average in terms of state funding,” Lin said. “We are one of the lowest funded school districts in the state of California, which is already one of the lowest funded states in educational funding in the whole nation.”
The vast majority of SMUSD funding comes from the state. In 2021-22, 82% derived from the Locally Controlled Funding Formula; 11% from federal funds and 7% came from “other,” like the state lottery. The Locally Controlled Funding Formula ensures state money each year for public schools, including a percentage of local property taxes; however, that is not enough to fund SMUSD’s $50 million budget. Lin explained the lasting legacy of Proposition 13, passed nearly four decades ago, which changed property tax payments by capping property taxes at 1% of a property’s assessed value. Property is only allowed to be reassessed to its current value whenever it is sold or if the owner makes a significant improvement or addition.
There are a few reasons why SMUSD is particularly vulnerable to these effects, Lin said. One is San Marino’s housing units structure: there are 5,229 housing units, with a $1.96 million median value, within the school district boundaries. Of that total, 53% or 2,870 housing units are in trusts, with an average value of $12.4 million and average sale date of May 1996. Homes not in trusts totaled 2,516 units, averaging value of $3.8 million and an average sale date of February 2007.
“Unlike basic aid school districts, SMUSD does not get enough property tax revenues and requires government funding. Which, this is a revelation that we need government subsidies,” said Lin, since people often equate the city to being a wealthy area, and hence, have highly funded schools.
Furthermore, SMUSD homes have an 88% occupancy rate, meaning 12% of homes are vacant. This represents $6 million that could potentially go toward SMUSD if the homes were occupied. San Marino’s vacancy rate is nearly double the rate across L.A. County, which has 6.6%, and California, with a 7.8% vacancy rate.
Lin also compared SMUSD’s teacher salaries. While San Marino teachers were paid on average $89,380 in 2021-22; Carmel teachers received $124,078; Laguna Beach $119,387; Beverly Hills $111,421; La Cañada $96,144; Alhambra $92,850; Azusa $91,726; and Monrovia $84,513.
Out of SMUSD’s $50 million budget, fixed expenses such as operational costs made up 20%, or $10 million; special education costs tallied 20%, or $10 million, and nonfixed costs came in at $30 million or 60%.
Lin highlighted the importance of granting interdistrict permits to allow children not living in the city to attend San Marino schools, typically to the children of city employees, including teachers and district staff, and police and fire department.
In 2023-24, SMUSD gave out 910 interdistrict permits, which generated $12 million in projected revenues for the district. This number totals about 40% of nonfixed expenditures and makes up 30% of total student enrollment.
Without these students, Lin said, “We would have to lay off at least 40% of our teachers and instructional programs. And after staffing cuts, each [remaining] student would need an additional $1,300 contribution to get the same level of quality education.
“Permit students subsidize our students, not the other way around,” he added, noting that other districts often do not want to release their students to San Marino and lose that financial contribution.
Lin also drew attention to the impending facility repair needs at schools across SMUSD, noting that stakeholders will soon have to reevaluate a bond set to expire in 2025. Back in March 2020, San Marino voters rejected the $200 million Measure S Bond, with 58.9% voting “no” and 41% voting “yes.”
Back in September, the SMUSD Board of Education introduced the hypothetical “San Marino School Repair, Upgrade, Safety Continuation Measure” priorities, and the Board has committed to holding more outreach and informational panels throughout the coming year on how to continue funding for local school facilities.
First published in the Oct. 26 issue of the San Marino Tribune
