Millbrae school district still pushing for bond

The Millbrae Elementary School District has been pursuing a bond measure that would fund infrastructure improvement projects across its five aging campuses, having previously considered placing a $87 million bond measure on the ballot Nov. 3, 2020. 

Trustees postponed the election and are now seeking to place a $90 million bond measure that would require 55% approval on the recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom. But state legislative changes, followed by an advisory by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, have prohibited local election officials from consolidating the races. 

The school district’s legal counsel, William Tunick, told trustees during a special meeting on Saturday, July 3, that the state appeared to have little legal justification for prohibiting race consolidation, suggesting the county elections office would have final say on whether to allow the bond to appear on the ballot come September. 

Contrarily, Assistant Chief Elections Officer Jim Irizarry said in an email Tuesday, July 6, that he did “not foresee any legislative action that will permit a consolidated election.” 

Still, the Millbrae Elementary School District Board of Trustees met Wednesday, July 7, to receive an update from French on filing the bond measure with the county. In closed session, they discussed next steps for the bond, resulting in full board support for moving forward with their push to place the measure on the September ballot.  

If unable to see the bond race come forward in September, Trustee Frank Barbaro said the board would aim for the June primary elections. As with the first two iterations of the bond, a third community survey would likely take place beforehand to “take the temperature of the population.” 

“It’s still up in the air,” Barbaro said. “The people of Millbrae, the parents of Millbrae want us to move forward with this so we’re going to do everything we can to do that.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com 

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