Calabasas hands over $244,500 to schools

By Michael Picarella Acorn Staff Writer

The Calabasas Education Fund gave $244,500 to Calabasas public schools to reduce class sizes at the high school level and add a new librarian and an elementary school intern. The remaining portion of a total of $625,000 that the Calabasas City Council over the summer allocated to the education fund still must be assigned.

At a town meeting last week, residents, school officials and city officials discussed where the remaining portion of the money should go.

"We’re going to be holding a series of town meetings," said Calabasas Education Fund Chair and Calabasas City Councilman Barry Groveman in an interview. "The purpose is to figure out what the community at large in Calabasas believes really makes a difference in the quality of our education. So far, based on the input the other night and what we knew intuitively, most people want to see reduced class size."

After reduced class size, the majority seems to want restoration of programs that were cut, Groveman said. "Sports programs, music programs, art programs, tutoring programs and guidance counselors in particular were important (to those at the meeting)," Groveman said.

The $244,500 given to Calabasas schools last week was actually acted upon about two months ago, according to Groveman. Six classes at Calabasas High School were reduced. One class went from 39 to 31 students and another class went from 41 to 35 students.

In three weeks, representative of the education fund will meet with Calabasas school teachers, and following that, there will be meetings with students and administers to get input from all sides, according to Groveman. The education fund board of directors wants as much input as it can get, he said.

The Calabasas City Council established the education fund in July as a way to protect city schools from California’s budget cuts.

"People hear a lot of talk about supporting local schools, but this represents real action," Groveman said. "We are clearly distinguishing Calabasas as a city where education is revered and immune from the failures of state government, which is why we became a city in the first place."

Groveman hopes to replenish the education fund with money via parcel taxes and increased state revenue and grants, he said.

"We’ll do our best to continue funding at the same level in the future," said Calabasas Mayor Pro Tem Michael Harrison, who came up with the idea to create the education fund. "Eventually, the education fund will be qualified to receive tax deductible contributions and then they will seek contributions from business, corporations and those interested."

The city council will examine the budget in June or the next time the topic arises, and council members will decide whether or not to allocate more money to the fund, according to Harrison. He and Groveman—among others—want to keep the fund alive, Harrison said.

"Education is of paramount importance to our community," Harrison said, "not just for its intrinsic value, but it certainly makes Calabasas an attractive place to live, and therefore it increases the property values, which increases the tax revenues, which increases the kind of services that we can offer our community members. In other words, people move here for the schools."

For more information about future education fund town meetings, call Calabasas City Hall at (818) 878-4225.