Education Partner Christine Wood Provides Commentary on the City of Malibu’s Plan to Separate From Santa Monica-Malibu School District

Best Best & Krieger LLP (BBK) Education Partner Christine Wood has provided legal insight on Malibu’s plan to form its own independent school district. This decision comes following the approval of agreements to separate from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, including terms for funding, resources and oversight.

“This is just the first step in this next phase. After this, we need to seek special legislation hand in hand with the district, and then we need to seek some additional approvals at the state and county level," said Wood in a statement for Fox11 Los Angeles.

While residents are pushing for an immediate split, city and district officials say additional coordination with the county and state means the earliest the new district could realistically launch is the 2028–2029 school year.

Additional citations of Wood’s commentary appeared in the following publications: