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https://n2v.almanacnews.com/square/print/2016/04/21/the-math-says-vote-no-on-measures-a-and-c

Town Square

The Math says Vote NO on Measures A and C

Original post made by Train Fan, Hillview Middle School, on Apr 21, 2016

Dear open minded and undecided voters,

As you may know, Menlo Park City School District (MPCSD) is requesting from our community 5 parcel taxes, and has requested a mail-in-only "special election" 1 month before the presidential primary for you to vote on the merits of Measures "A" and "C".

By now you've likely seen the passionate debates on the merits of these 5 parcel taxes. Instead of parsing through all the comments that have been posted in previous Topics, you are welcome to examine the data below and draw your own conclusions on the merits of 5 parcel taxes.


Here are the important points:

FACT: MPCSD has the highest revenue per student of ANY elementary school district in the 9 Bay Area counties with API scores over 900 and student populations of at least 2000.

Here is a graph illustrating this fact: Web Link

(source: ed-data.org : Web Link )


FACT: Since the 2000-2001 school year, MPCSD revenues have increased faster than both inflation and student population growth by $6,547,549 .

Here is a graph illustrating this fact: Web Link

(almanacnews has a weblink limit. I'll provide links to references and sources in a followup).


FACT: NO elementary school district in the state has 5 parcel taxes.


FACT: NO elementary school district gets over $1000 (and higher!) in parcel taxes per parcel. Most elementary school districts have NO parcel taxes, and the few that do have per parcel revenues from parcel taxes in the low $100s.


FACT: many other elementary school districts in the Bay Area of a comparable size and quality are able to provide high quality education for the children of the community with lower revenues than MPCSD.


This school district has been very well supported financially by this community over the years, and all reasonable statistics show that it has plenty of revenue to sustain itself. Measures A and C are unnecessary largesse. MPCSD does not need even more tax revenue; the existing 3 permanent parcel taxes plus property tax increases are mathematically proven to be more than sufficient.

Other school districts accomplish just as much, or more, with less. We don't need a gold-plated school district, we need a public school district that is actually affordable to the PUBLIC.


The Almanacnews recommends a NO vote on Measures A and C.
The Daily Post recommends a NO vote on Measures A and C.


Please Vote NO on Measures A and C


Thank you for your time.

Comments

Posted by Joe G
a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park
on Apr 21, 2016 at 11:16 pm

Thanks Train for pulling this together. Very strong reasons that we do not need a PERMANENT parcel tax levied by the MPCSD. People should also look at the increase in administrators and staff at the district office the past three or so years. I wonder what this increase has done to the district budget.

The Almanac news recommends a NO vote on Measures A and C.
The Daily Post recommends a NO vote on Measures A and C.

Please Vote NO on Measures A and C

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Posted by Equity
a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park
on Apr 23, 2016 at 7:10 pm

This is a terrific post Train. The points are clear and your listed weblinks are very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to put this together for those of us who are on the fence. You mentioned listed other links in an additional post. Could you do that?

VOTE NO ON A AND C.

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Posted by Apple
a resident of Atherton: other
on Apr 27, 2016 at 9:47 pm

Thanks for the post, Train Fan. One thing that doesn't get pointed out much is that when more students enter the district, the cost per student does not need to increase while maintaining the same quality of education.

Small school districts have higher administrative overhead as a percent of their budget. They cannot buy materials or services in bulk. The larger a district gets, the more economies of scale it can take advantage of. The cost per student should actually be able to decline without a loss in the educational experience.

MPCSD is a midsize district and getting bigger. New parcel taxes should not be requesting higher per student funding than current levels.

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