But Mr. Foster, the only Malibu resident on the school board, called the centralized fund-raising system “ideological,” and said it was a poor fit for a district as divided and sprawling as Santa Monica-Malibu, which combines two discontinuous towns with schools up to 23 miles apart. During rush hour, it can take nearly an hour to make the drive up Route 1 between urban Santa Monica and beachy Malibu, and for decades, some Malibu activists have wanted to separate the district into two.

That movement accelerated after the new fund-raising system began. It gained another boost in 2013 when toxic PCBs were discovered in several Malibu schools and parents were dissatisfied with the district’s response. A school board vote on separation will take place this year, potentially followed by a referendum in each community.

Even if not universally beloved, the shared-donation program has become such an integral part of the district’s culture that some advocates of secession say that if Malibu becomes its own district, it should have a centralized donation system to equalize funding across the town’s four schools. They point out that disadvantaged children are in Malibu, too — about 12 percent of the student population qualifies for free or discounted lunch, compared with 30 percent in Santa Monica.



On a recent Friday morning at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, which is perched on a hill overlooking the Pacific, Malibu parents watched their fifth graders put on a ballroom dance performance. The students had studied with a dance teacher from a local college, in a program paid for by the centralized donations distributed by the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation.

The foundation also supports Cabrillo’s art, science and music programs. Several parents said they were grateful for the group’s support. But they think Malibu could pull in even more money if it separated from Santa Monica.

“I wish the kids could get more,” said Karen Clark, treasurer of the Cabrillo PTA — for example, dancing in the third and fourth grades, in addition to fifth grade. “We would do just fine” if Malibu became its own district, she said. “The Malibu community would be very generous.”