Schools

Consultant Optimistic About Another $30 Million School Bond

Measure seems likely on November ballot.

The likelihood of Millbrae residents passing a school bond measure in November is promising as long as the district provides proper communication and community feedback, a consultant said on Monday.

The Millbrae School District hired bond consultant Connell Lindh to inform residents on the schools’ infrastructure needs, such as new roofs, new restrooms, fire alarms and a new cafeteria at Taylor Middle School. Last Friday, Lindh sent a mailer to about 4,000 Millbrae registered voters regarding the proposed improvements. On Monday night she gave a presentation to the board.

“You see kids at Taylor eating their lunch on the concrete outside because there aren’t enough benches,” said Trustee Caroline Shea.

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The cafeteria was built for 350 children, but currently accommodates about 850.

Millbrae voters passed $30 million bond Measure X in 2008 to renovate schools, and those improvements will be completed in August. But the board of trustees said that because many school buildings are antiquated, more money is needed. 

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“Our buildings have been neglected for lack of funding,” Shea said. “We had no idea how much dry rot there was, and it ate up a lot of funding [from Measure X].” 

The board instructed Lindh to survey the community to ensure residents understand the implications of a new bond measure and its effects on the schools.

“No one disputes that much more work needs to be done, the question is the timing,” said Deirdri Gladwin, president of the Millbrae Education Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money for local schools. 

The MEF presented the school board with a check for $155,476 to pay for a Taylor Middle School counselor and for classroom aides.

“The people that I’ve talked to want clarification of specific needs,” Gladwin said. “The average parent or citizen is going to look at their tax bill and say, ‘there’s already something here and now they’re asking for more?’”

The board also said that the quality of schools correlates to property values in Millbrae.

“Aside from property values, we’re talking about conditions in our schools that we wouldn’t allow in our homes,” said board President Don Revelo. “It’s amazing the quality of education that’s occurred considering the environment that our kids have endured.”

Lindh has not done any specific polling in Millbrae, but statewide 80 percent of proposed school bond measures have been successful, he said. 

The deadline to place a bond measure on the November ballot is Aug. 12.


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