By Jonathan Friedman
Lookout Staff

July 2, 2010 -- The Save Our Schools (SOS) campaign went viral this week with the placement of a video on YouTube featuring actors Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. The celebrity couple has a daughter in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD). The SOS campaign has a goal to raise as much money as possible to restore at least some of the teaching and other staff positions that were eliminated due to budget cuts. The SMMUSD was forced to make the cuts because of reduced revenue from the State, its largest financial contributor.

“California’s devastating budget cuts have closed too many doors on the children in the Santa Monica-Malibu public schools,” Madigan said in the video, which was directed by award-winning filmmaker and SMMUSD parent Varda Hardy.

The video shows young children requesting help for such things as music lessons, counseling and checking out library books. A door then slams in front of each child and a message appears showing how many staff members were cut for each service.

To view the video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ECWq3Q0_x4.

SOS volunteer Rebecca Kennerly said the video will soon appear at local movie theaters prior to the showing of films.

Donations can be made through the SOS web site at www.savesantamonicamalibuschools.org. Money is being raised through other means as well, including lemonade and bake sales and Malibu and Santa Monica businesses offering to contribute a percentage of revenue. More information can be found on the SOS web site.

More than 150 SOS volunteers will participate in the Ocean Park Association’s Fourth of July parade to promote the campaign. Also, a partnership has been established with the Twilight Dance Series to do joint fundraising during the Thursday night concerts at the pier. Money received will be evenly divided between the free concert series (which has its own financial issues) and the school fundraising effort. Other events are also being organized.

“I’ve never seen grassroots support like this before,” Kennerly said. “Parents care and the community cares so much about our schools that they are just going to do whatever it takes to protect the integrity of our schools.”

Money must be received by Aug. 15 to go toward restoring positions for the fall. Donations received after that time will still be useful for the financially strained District, but they cannot be used to restore positions for the 2010-11 school year.

More than $400,000 has been raised as of this week. A running total is being updated each week on the SOS web site. It shows how much money has been raised for each contribution “bucket.” The Board of Education established the buckets to provide choices for donors regarding which programs they want their money to support.

One bucket is dedicated to bringing back laid-off elementary school classroom teachers. The other two buckets are designated for two programs apiece. One is for counselors and secondary school classroom teachers and the other is for elementary school music and elementary school libraries. Money designated for those buckets is divided evenly to benefit both programs in them.

Kennerly said although the she is pleased with the “incredible effort,” she noted that money raised through this campaign will only be one-time funding. The District must seek ongoing, sustainable funding sources. A committee is meeting about placing a parcel tax on the ballot as soon as November. A $198-per-parcel tax proposal in May failed to garner the necessary two-thirds support for passage, although it would have won by a slim margin had the election only taken place in Santa Monica. Also, the District’s Financial Oversight Committee has proposed some revenue enhancement concepts.