School Board Approves Language for $23 Million Bond in Menlo Park

The Menlo Park City School District Board of Education unanimously approved on Monday language for a $23 million bond that will be placed on the November 2013 election.

Board Member Laura Rich motioned for the item to be approved; Board Member Maria Hilton seconded it. 

At least 55% of voters need to vote yes on the bond for it to pass. If approved, the additional amount that homeowners within the district’s borders could see on their next tax bill depends on the assessed value of their property.

“The tax rate levied to meet the debt service requirements of the bonds proposed to be issued will not exceed the statutory limit of $30 per year per $100,000 of assessed valuation of taxable property pursuant to Education Code Section 15268,” reads the measure that will be placed on the ballot. 

Notably, there is no exemption for senior citizens written into this parcel tax. 

The money will be used to fund restoration or renovation of O’Conner Elementary School, which the district reclaimed in an effort to prepare for increasing enrollment in the district.   

“We were thinking that it was a bubble and that it would subside,” said Ahmad Sheikholeslami, director of facility planning and construction for the Menlo Park City School District.  “But the more and more we looked ta the data, it became clear that we needed to make a long-term plan and bring another school online,” he said. 

“We’re not building for the sake of building,” he said.  “We’re doing this because that is what we teach kids in.”  

The district will be incurring the cost of placing this on the November 5, 2013 ballot and will be filing it with San Mateo County by August 9.

The board also agreed that it would be best to construct a new school for third through fifth graders on the property, which is located at 275 Elliot Drive in Menlo Park, California, while keeping the option of converting it into a K-5 school open. That project is expected to cost about $23.5 million, according to a school district staff report prepared for the May 29 board meeting. The property is currently leased to The German American International School, which must relocate by May 15, 2015.  

The actual configuration of the new school is still in the design phase.

You can view the potential configurations for the new school in the photos attached to these words.