Randy Kenyon presents to the board
Sept. 9, 2013. At tonights’s Los Altos School District Meeting, trustees said that Bullis Charter School had declined to go forward with the scheduled 7pm meeting in Los Altos Hills tomorrow, Tuesday.
CEQA Hamster Wheel Goes Round and Round
Mark Goines said that the data BCS provided so that LASD could recheck CEQA compliance at both Egan and Blach Schools was still lacking. Because Bullis has not specified day by day how many students will be on a particular campus, Goines said the District would have to be “conservative” and assume the maximum number will be on campus each of those days to calculate CEQA. That could make it harder for the District to relax the restrictions of the FUA on total enrollment at Egan and Blach and the on grades k-3 being excluded Blach.
Goines said Bullis was “not being considerate of the community.” He said the job of conceding was “all on us.” He asked why Bullis had not creatively tried to figure out “how to live with what they’ve got” in the facilities LASD provided. ” They won’t tell us the impacts on their program.”
He went on to say it was ironic that Bullis has an existing lawsuit again LASD based on CEQA. Yet now Bullis argues that CEQA will be “just fine” at Blach and Egan with the FUA accommodation [because in the past, 500+ students were in school “camps” at Egan and Blach during school renovations.]
No LASD Decision on FUA till After Long Term Talks
Pablo Luther suggested that the long-term bond talks and short-term FUA talks needed to be woven together. Then their could be give and take on both sides. With the prospect of working together towards a real joint long-term solution, then the ideal short-term solution could be a multi-year agreement. He said the decisions on the short-term FUA needed to be postponed till after the long-term talks.
Tamara Logan questioned whether trust was being honored. She claimed that on Blach “kids were playing where they weren’t supposed to play.”
Doug Smith said that a “quick decision on FUA accomodations would be improper.” He wanted to start the long term talks asap in order to know “if we have a path to a bond or not?” He wondered if “the community has concerns about a bond FOR BCS.”
Vilifying and Grandstanding
The trustees said that the District has not and would not LOCK OUT STUDENTS. “Talk about such a thing is just an attempt to vilify the District.”
Taglio criticized the format of the previous joint meetings. In particular he thought that the opening statements were just an excuse for “grandstanding for the camera.”
Doug Smith said the board has published a draft placeholder agenda for the previously scheduled joint LASD & BCS meeting on long-term sites and solutions this Thursday in Los Altos Hills. But it is far from clear whether BCS will agree to go ahead with the meeting.
Bullis Charter School trustees have insisted that a FUA accommodation agreement should occur FIRST – so that BCS can run its integrated program without fear of a lockout – and that such a resolution will set the stage for a fruitful, cooperative, long-term bond discussions and partnership.
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Other Items from the LASD Board meeting
Property Tax Forecast – Litigation Spending
Randy Kenyon estimates that property tax revenue will increase at least 4% to 10% a year. Property tax growth rates of 5% or more will tend to buoy the District’s financial reserves over time. In his forecast he assumes a continuation of spending on litigation of $2.0M a year. [ About $1.6 M to $1.7 M a year of it is BCS litigation.} He floated the idea of establishing a sinking fund of $500,000 a year to save for inevitable facility repairs.
Two Bond Options
One bond option would be a “Prop 39” bond which requires just a 55% majority. However is has to be voted on in a general election. The next ones are June and November 2014. It is a requirement that there be a Citizen’s Oversight Committee to monitor the bond monies. This type of bond has a cap on the tax rate: only $30 per $100,000 assessed value. Kenyon estimates this bond could raise $150 Million.
A second option is the conventional 66.66% majority bond measure. The election can be held anytime or be a mail-in special election. There is no committee required and no cap on the tax rate. Kenyon estimates that at $60 per $100,000 assessed value, this bond would raise $300 Million.
