The Burlingame School District is facing tight budget constraints. In fact, the District in order to make the budget balance may need to further increase the number of classrooms, 4th and 5th grade in particular, with 30 or more students. This budget-driven pressure to increase student-to-teacher ratios will almost certainly affect all 7 schools in the district at some point unless we act. The California Teacher’s Association recommends K-12 classroom sizes of 20 students or less [1].

 

The Board of Trustees historically has been conservative in raising parcel taxes to increase revenue because the 2/3rds requirement for such a measure to pass can be difficult to achieve. We would like to try an alternative approach, the Citizens’ Initiative to increase BSD funding. The Citizens’ Initiative has the unique benefit that only majority approval is required [2], as opposed to the 2/3rds requirement for such a measure proposed by the board of trustees, a feature that arose out of a California court decision in 2018. The Citizens' Initiative still requires work. First, 1,969 valid signatures of registered voters (10% of the 19,690 total number of registered voters in the Burlingame Elementary School District, and note the boundaries of BSD are slightly larger than Burlingame which has 18,805 registered voters)  would need to be gathered and then the support of a majority of our remaining fellow citizens would also need to be won. 

 

We estimate with funding for approximately 22 FTEs (~1 per 150 students in the District) to avoid the elimination of positions and/or create new positions, the District could get close to, if not meet, a goal of average K-8 classroom sizes of 24, or less, and avoid classroom sizes that exceed 30 students.  We estimate these 22 FTEs would cost approximately $3,100,000 [3].

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In terms of how best to raise the funds, options included a per-parcel tax, like Measure L, which passed in 2014, an additional percentage tax on assessed value, or a per-square-foot parcel tax. Studies of per-square-foot-based parcel taxes versus other parcel taxes that we reviewed suggest that voters are most inclined to vote in favor of per-square-foot-based parcel taxes [4]. The per-square-foot approach to school funding has successfully been approved by voters in nearby districts including Berkeley, Emeryville, Alameda, Piedmont and West Contra Costa County [5]. 

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A parcel tax consisting of $0.08 per building square foot on the estimated 38 million taxable building square feet in Burlingame would provide approximately $3,100,000 in annual funding and would be supported approximately 55% by commercial and multi-family property owners and 45%  by single family residential property owners [6]. The same per-square-foot tax rate must be applied to both commercial and residential building square footage to conform to statutory uniformity requirements [7].

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This measure is a Citizens’ initiative and as such would require only a majority of voters for approval. That said, there is state initiative #1935 that has qualified for the November 2024 ballot, which would render Citizens’ initiatives passed between 2022 – 2024 with less than 2/3rds approval void by November 2025. Initiative #1935 which would affect the ability of many special districts, not just school districts, to assess fees and taxes, is being fiercely opposed by many groups [8]. On September 26, 2023, the CA legislature and Gov. Newsom filed an emergency petition with the CA Supreme Court seeking a writ of mandate preventing initiative #1935 from being placed on the November 2024 ballot, on the basis of their allegation that the measure is an unlawful attempt to revise the California constitution. Additionally, measure ACA 13,  which the California legislature recently voted to place on the November 7, 2024, statewide presidential primary ballot, if passed by a 50% majority vote of  California statewide voters would require initiative #1935 to achieve 2/3rds supermajority in order to pass.  A 2/3rds supermajority threshold would render #1935 unlikely to pass. Thus while the existence of measure #1935 might slightly discourage some enthusiasm for this parcel tax, it remains important to appreciate there is a high likelihood that Initiative #1935 will not become state law. 

 

The timeline goal would be to submit signatures by December 31, 2023, enabling placement on a special election ballot the first week of May, and for funding to begin with the July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, school budget year. 

 

 As a citizens’ initiative, it will be important to keep in mind:

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How the Burlingame School Districts Can Support Citizen Initiatives

•       Provide strictly informational materials to the public about citizen initiatives through communication channels that the District normally uses to relay information to the public.

•       The Board can adopt Resolutions supporting or opposing citizen initiatives at regularly scheduled open meetings where the public may express its views. However, Resolutions cannot urge voters to take any action, and the language of Resolutions must be simple, measured, and informative.

•       District employees and Board members may volunteer and engage in political activity as private citizens. Such activity cannot be during work hours, and volunteers cannot hold themselves out as representing the district.

 

How the Burlingame School Districts Cannot Support Citizen Initiatives [10]

•       Use public funds or resources to oppose or support any citizen initiatives.

•       Produce or distribute anything that advocates or urges voters to vote for or against an initiative.

•       Use staff time, materials, equipment, facilities, or district communication channels to attempt to persuade voters to vote for or against an initiative.