Children's theatre sparks education funding controversy

Rick Damelio, superintendent for the San Mateo-Foster City School District, said the theater has been needed for a long time. Students at Bayside, which has been an arts and theater magnet school since 1995, have had to perform outdoors in the past because of a lack of sizable indoor spaces. “These kids work their tail off to put together a program and if you sit three or four rows back, you can’t see them,” said Damelio. “It just seems to me that a school district with some 10,000 students would have one decent theater in the district,” he added.

But not everyone agrees that the theater is a good thing. “I think it’s an absolute disgrace,” said Art Weiner, a long time San Mateo resident. “We’re talking about a school district that has been crying about not having any money. The same people who say they can’t even pay for the pencils and paper want to build this theater.” Weiner said he would like the district to focus on bringing schools like Turnbell, which has one of the lowest SAT 9 test scores in the county, up to speed.

The money for the theater is coming from a $79 million bond measure passed by the voters in 1996. Much of that money has gone toward paying for the rehabilitation of school buildings, seismic retrofitting and electric wiring for computers, and added classrooms.

Nowhere on the ballot measure is the theater specifically mentioned. Phyllis Moore, vice president of the school board, said taxpayers didn’t know what they were getting themselves into when they voted on the bond. “I just don’t think that the taxpayers knew that they were voting for the theater, and that’s just not fair to the taxpayers,” Moore added.

Tish Biselle, assistant superintendent of the district, said the intentions for the theater, as well as all the other major school projects, was made clear to the public during their campaign to pass the bond.