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San Marino City ends transportation, trash subsidies; district forecasts $450,000 shortfall
Summary
San Marino Unified officials told the board that the city will stop reimbursing district transportation costs for athletics and field trips and will no longer include the district in the city trash contract; the district estimates a combined gap of about $450,000 and is evaluating options.
San Marino Unified School District officials told the Board of Education on May 27 that the City of San Marino will no longer reimburse the district for transportation for athletics and field trips and has excluded the district from the city's new trash service contract.
The change “will be an additional expenditure” the district must absorb or find revenue for, Chief Business Officer Dr. Stephen Choi told the board. Choi said the transportation reimbursements previously totaled about $150,000 annually and that the trash-service change increases the district’s costs by roughly $300,000, “$300,000 that we're gonna have to come up with that we've never had to come up with before.”
Why it matters: the district’s operating budget of roughly $50 million absorbs fixed costs for special education and operations; losing outside revenue and city-provided services requires either new revenue or cuts to programs and services. Choi said the city informed district staff that the city could not include the school district in its new contract because of state rules requiring separate handling of organic waste under SB 1383 and because the city’s attorney advised the city it could not legally subsidize the district’s trash service.
Board members asked staff to provide the prior agreement with the city showing the historical arrangement and to identify short- and longer-term options. Choi said the district has an interim trash-service plan in place through the end of the school year and has communicated with Athens to maintain service while the district examines alternatives, including issuing its own RFP.
Next steps: staff will return with documentation of the prior city–district arrangement and proposed options to fund or reduce the new $150,000 (transportation) and $300,000 (trash) gaps. Choi also noted possible short-term responses such as asking booster groups to cover certain team transportation costs and exploring parent drivers for some events, but he cautioned that some activities (band, equipment-heavy travel) are not easily shifted to volunteer transport.
