Four race for San Bruno school board

On the same ballot voters will decide the fate of Measure X, a $79 million bond proposal which most candidates believe is a source of revenue badly needed to reconfigure aging facilities and help clear fiscal solvency issues long plaguing the district.

“We need to rebuild our infrastructure. It’s challenging, but we need to humble ourselves and ask the community for their support,” said Mason, who was appointed last year to fill the void left by former trustee Patrick Flynn’s resignation.

Sanchez and Chavez echoed a similar sentiment, sharing their support for the measure designed to finance reconfiguring the district from a system built around small, neighborhood schools into larger, community campuses.

Zelnik disagreed though, suggesting he believed the district should have pursued a parcel tax instead because he preferred a measure which can be paid toward personnel and operations.

“A parcel tax gives you a little bit more flexibility in the way you can use that money,” said Zelnik, who was on the board more than a decade ago before resigning.

Zelnik said he believes a parcel tax could be a source of budget stabilization sorely needed, as the district has fluctuated over the past few years between being funded by the state and local property taxes.

An unreliable funding mechanism is just the tip of iceberg for the district’s fiscal woes, which have plagued the school district so extensively that the San Mateo County Office of Education intervened to oversee budget construction.

Beyond the outside counsel, financial strife has also given way to labor disputes with teachers in recent years which escalated to the precipice of a strike, before an eleventh-hour deal was struck.

To make way for the new teacher deal under the confines of a limited budget, officials weighed eliminating essential programs and services such a cutting library hours and sharing principals between campuses. Only an unexpected injection of state financing allowed officials to back away from the difficult and unpopular choices.

The years of turmoil have taken their toll, as most trustees acknowledge the community’s faith is shaken in the school district and its administration. For her part, Chavez shared her desire to work as a conduit for mending the relationship between the school district and most San Bruno residents.

“I want to advocate for the cohesiveness that can occur,” said Chavez, who has one child currently in the district with another who graduated and is now attending Capuchino High School.

Looking ahead, Superintendent Stella Kemp authored a plan to use the potential bond revenue in tandem with money generated by property sales to rejigger the district.

Officials agreed to shutter El Crystal Elementary School last year, and are laying the groundwork to sell the land before charting a similar course with Rollingwood Elementary School at a date yet to be determined. Previously, the district sold the former Carl Sandburg School campus, and have since spent the revenue generated.

For his part, Sanchez said he believes in Kemp’s path toward seeking financial sustainability.

“Having the infrastructure the superintendent installed will help us start going in the right direction,” said Sanchez.

Zelnik, meanwhile, questioned the logic of selling district property, noting the opportunity for the city’s changing demographics to result in an enrollment uptick, leading to the school system becoming starved for space.

The district has been experiencing declining enrollment over recent years, furthering the financial woes and buttressing confidence among officials that reconfiguring campuses is a worthy initiative.

Sanchez noted an opportunity in rebuilding the campuses to establish flexible spaces which could accommodate additional students, should enrollment trends switch direction in coming years.

Mason said establishing magnet programs, such as those built around science, technology, engineering and math, could be effective in attracting more students to the district. He added bilingual courses could be useful under that effort as well.

Chavez agreed, and said reaching out those in households where English is a second language could too be a useful method for building community in the school district.

“That way we can be proactive and encourage families to participate,” she said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 105