Calabasas to hike preschool tuition

By Michael Picarella pic@theacorn.com

Parents of Calabasas Klub-house Preschool students will pay more this fall. Last week, the Calabasas City Council voted to increase tuition by 8 percent.

The Calabasas Klubhouse is at 3655 Old Topanga Canyon Road in Calabasas. The facility opened in 1999, and since that time, the school has been unable to break even financially, according to city staff. Currently, the preschool recovers about 64 percent of its operating costs. For the future fiscal year, the city expects it to improve to 91 percent, thanks to the fee hike.

One elected official wants it to break even or maybe turn a profit.

"I’m pushing, and staff is pushing, to make this school self-supporting so it doesn’t require subsidies from the public," said Calabasas Mayor Pro Tem Michael Harrison. The rate increase will help, he said.

Calabasas taxpayers paid about $400 per Klubhouse student last year, which is almost the equivalent of a $50,000 subsidy, according to Harrison. Much of this amount, however, is used for the upkeep of the adjacent Creekside Park, which is open to the public on weekends, according to Calabasas City Councilwoman Lesley Devine.

Staff members expect that the 8 percent increase in tuition at Klubhouse will allow the school to recover nearly 100 percent of its projected expenses next year. These figures, according to a report, are based on the expected enrollment of 118 students in September.

Harrison hopes the school will recover 100 percent of its expenses. It’s unfair, he said, that taxpayers subsidize the school, mainly because the building and the adjacent Creekside Park aren’t public facilities. The park is only open to the general public on weekends.

"All of our park programs in the city—except for the Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center—are subsidized by the city," Harrison said. "But none of those programs preclude the public from using those parks. For example, there are programs at De Anza Park, at Gates Canyon Park and at Grape Arbor Park, and they are subsidized, but the public can use the parks while the programs are going on. So it’s fair for the public to subsidize normal park programs because the public also gets to use the park.

"The tennis and swim center is different," Harrison said. "The public is precluded from using the center unless it pays for access, either through membership or through daily use fees."

Taxpayers, he said, don’t subsidize the tennis and swim center.

Devine approved the tuition increase for the preschool, she said, because she wants it to stay open. The city also needs to provide adequate safety for students, she said.

"This is about having a safe and secure environment for small children," Devine said, who agreed with Harrison that the east side of the city needs a park.

But Creekside, Devine said, isn’t that park.

Devine had a problem with Harrison’s contention that Creekside is the only place on the east side of Calabasas for adolescents to go after school. The existing playground equipment is for younger kids, not for children who are 10 to 14 years old, Devine said.

"The real objective now is to find real park space on the east side of our town—where two-thirds of our people live—where kids can go after school or during the day, Monday through Friday, for open play," Harrison said.

Harrison and Devine discussed the matter last week and said they hope to work with Las Virgenes Unified School District to provide recreation at campuses––possibly Chaparral Elementary School at 22601 Liberty Bell Road––where kids can play.

School sites are currently gated, Devine said.

Harrison would like to see some supervision—but no structure or fees (just open playtime) in afternoons and on the weekends.

And the fees at Klubhouse might be going up again.

"Next spring, I believe staff will come back with perhaps a recommendation for two rates, one for residents and one for non-residents," Harrison said. "They have to do an analysis and they just don’t have time to do that (before the school year begins)."