Menlo Park school board considers parcel tax measure in November

Waste not, want not.

Did the district not learn last time that the voters will reject an open ended tax? (aka 'more permanent solution') We're already looking at a situation where 3 years into a 7 year run they are considering a 'need' to increase taxes. This is concerning. How about planning a campaign of planning, outreach and discussion before putting it on the ballot in 2021 or even 2022.

In addition, putting this on the ballot with a Prop 13 revision is idiotic from an optics standpoint. Doubly so if they don't really know the needs yet.

MPCSD, just say no. Don't rush this. Do it right.

Automatic 2% pay hike? Automatic for 3 years? No evaluation?
Year one = 263,314.02
Year two = 268,580.30
Year three = 273,951.90
But wait! There’s more! The Board is throwing in a paid life insurance policy!
But wait! There's still more! If that isn’t enough, how about a permanent housing allowance AND car allowance!
Then a retention bonus of 5% = 279,430.95
Then a retention bonus of 7% =298,991.12
Then a retention bonus of 10% = 328,890.23
I think we have a problem.

MPCSD offers a public education unlike that of neighboring districts and seeks to be a leader in public education. At a time when we are expecting a historic teacher shortage, we need leadership that will build the profession.

Retaining a good superintendent with a strong vision and leadership skills is essential, especially in Silicon Valley. The stakes are not just about making sure Menlo Park children can read and write. We need to uphold a strong pubic education system because it truly is the cornerstone of our democracy.

Superintendent Burmeister obviously has lofty goals set by the board. Anyone who takes a close look can see that the district is one of a kind and a leader in public education.

Instead of criticize the board for giving extravagant raises and packages, please stop and look at the salaries of CEOs in SV and see if they compare with superintendents who are leading the public education system for the future of California. While this package is generous, it's not lavish and only needs to be compared with non educator salaries to see that public education needs to compete or lose the best and brightest to other fields.

Thank you school board for working so hard to keep Superintendent Burmeister.

An expensive, low-turnout special election woukd be best for gaining approval. In November, voters will be distracted by other matters. That could also be useful. Plus, the superintendent and school board might want to solicit some campaign assistance from Vladimir Putin. Facebook ads for starters. Sure, it would be illegal. But the ends justify any means.

In my opinion there is no way that property taxes can support the quality of education which MPCSD provides and which most of us support.*

I urge the School Board to develop a long term plan involving a single parcel tax proposal that ensures we can maintain the current high quality of education that we current have and want to keep.


*This will be particularly true if the Atherton Town Council tries to play its "fiscal equity" scam against the school districts as it has done with the Fire District - demanding that the "excess" property taxes paid to the school districts be given to the Town itself! Using Atherton's figures they will claim that "their" residents are paying almost $30M more in property taxes than the school districts spend educating Atherton students. Just responding to this scam will cost huge legal fees.

@Cat This is public money, public funds the board is using, not private VC money and it is very extravagant for a public employee heading a k-8 school district of 1,000 students in 4 schools.

"Instead of criticize the board for giving extravagant raises and packages, please stop and look at the salaries of CEOs in SV"

Plus yourcomment about it being better than neighboring schools is not accurate at all.

Why should I keep getting hit with property tax increases when my kids go to private school. Why don't we have one school district for the county, one fire department, one police department.Think of how much money we would save....

These extravagant salaries are exacerbating the pension problem.

@Cat -- it's not a fair comparison of CEOs and superintendents. You could add military officers into the mix and say a colonel with 30 years of experience and who commands lots of people and programs doesn't make as much as the superintendent. It's also not appropriate to directly compare a public salary to that of a CEO -- they have very different missions.

If, however, you want to go down that path, are teachers able to get dismissed if they under perform the same as in the business world?

This is public money not corporate money.

I'm all for education, but stop using same justification over and over and that has also been used by fire and police departments for retaining good people.

There are approximately 3,000 students in MPCSD, not 1,000.

The State should stop giving wealthy school districts, like MPCSD, their Gann Limit credits so they can spend the revenue they collect which exceeds their limit. If this were done, taxes would be reduced to pay back the excess collected. This could easily be done by using the overage to service bond debt.

Have you ever noticed how every parcel tax has a Gann Limit increase in the measure? MPFPD passed a measure simply to increase their Gann limit so the could spend the excess revenue they enjoy.

"MPFD passed a measure simply to increase their Gann limit so the could spend the excess revenue they enjoy"

This Gann limit increase wasn't passed by MPFPD but rather it was an overwhelming vote of the citizens, 79%, that passed this measure.

MPCSD should have to do it the same way.

@ Astonished
a resident of Atherton: Lindenwood
on Jan 25, 2020 at 7:44 am
@Cat This is public money, public funds the board is using, not private VC money and it is very extravagant for a public employee heading a k-8 school district of 1,000 students in 4 schools.

"Instead of criticize the board for giving extravagant raises and packages, please stop and look at the salaries of CEOs in SV"

It may be helpful to compare salaries of heads of schools as opposed to SV CEOs. The scope of the MCSD superintendent includes 5 school campuses, 3,000+ students, and over 100+ faculty and staff.
Using the Form 990 available from 2017 for Menlo School, their Head of School's salary was $456,904 -- for a scope of one school campus with a total enrollment of 795, and 111 faculty & administration members
Using the Form 990 available from 2017 for Castilleja, their Head of School's salary was $398,841 -- for a scope of one school campus with a total enrollment of 430, and 61 faculty members

LO Resident:

apples and oranges. The best comparison is across a wide range of public school districts in this state. MPCSD has some of the best compensated staff in the state.

How does it compare with the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose? In terms of student population, the diocese is the second largest education provider in the county, trailing only San Jose Unified School District District. Web Link