Last week it was pretty gloomy around the San Mateo-Foster City school board and the word was out that there was going to be layoffs of more than 100 employees. Well it seems that Measure A has passed by the narrowest of margins. At one point it appeared that it was leading by 3 total votes.

Passage will mean $6 million annually to the district but will not necessarily eliminate the need for more cuts. The district folk are still expecting to cut more in the future.

The new tax essentially renews a parcel tax that had previously been renewed in 2003 provides about $2 million in district revenue and it was set to end in 2010. A vote is going to occur on March 4 over a plan to cut various positions and the new tax plan will be a part of that decision making process. The final decision on cuts will be May 15.

Here’s a link to the Daily Journal’s story on this topic:

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=125673

Well, the City Council slammed the door pretty well on the whole issue of a fourth public school being developed on park land in Foster City the other night. Tons of folks showed up too to express themselves in the process. The idea of Boothbay Park, Port Royal Park and the 15 acre site being used for a new school wasn’t suitable, the council decided. Here’s the Daily Journal acticle on this topic:

ParksBrouhaha

It would appear that the location the City would like the discussion moved toward is the area on the south side of Beach Park at Halibut, but there also seems to be quite a large number of issues that need to be overcome before that site becomes “the one”. I’m thinking the School District isn’t going to be too high on this site for all the reasons mentioned in this Daily Journal piece and I’m thinking the alternative ideas of adding square footage to the existing schools is going to get a whole lot more traction going forward. It’ll probably be the fastest fix too. It’s definitely a fork in the road for the 4th school.

The 25 page agenda packet has been released for the big pow wow scheduled for Monday in which a fourth elementary school will be discussed. It’s kind of tortuous to get through all 25 pages but there’s some interesting stuff there.

The attorney has rendered an opinion that “the sale of Boothbay Park to the School District is prohibited by Government Code Section 37111.1″ because “transfer of this park land to the District would not represent use for a ‘municipal’ purpose” and because “the City has not, within the last 3 years, acquired or developed an equal or greater amount of land for park purposes” that could replace the park.  It’s also indicated that Port Royal Park might be restricted based upon the dedication that was made by the original developer in that section of town.

Further, it’s also opined that giving the land away would be a gift of public funds, which is prohibited under the Government Code. As such, the District would have to pay “fair value” based on an independent appraiser.

Hmmm…pretty interesting. Especially if you’re fighting to save Boothbay Park. It also sure would seem to put pressure onto the 15 acre/Parkview Plaza site again, doesn’t it? At any rate it sure will be an interesting meeting on Monday!

Many of you have been really aware of the problem of overcrowding in the local schools, exacerbated by the economic slump that’s forcing plenty of families to move kids from private schools to public out of financial necessity. What we now have is a problem…way too many kids for the existing schools, particularly the elementary schools.

The solution from the school board seems to be the creation of a fourth elementary school in one of four proposed locations, on part of the 15 acre site, at Port Royal Park, on 3.9 acres at the end of Halibut at Beach Park and at Boothbay Park. A big city council meeting is planned on August 31 to discuss the planned sites and, interestingly, there’s folks who are quite passionate about these choices. Particularly Boothbay Park, which has a ground swell of local neighbors who are opposed to developing this location.  They’ve created a website to fight this battle, saveboothbaypark.com and will certainly provide some interesting dialog at that meeting on the 31st.

All this without the usual debate about a High School. Schools are, with good reason, a very hot topic and in Foster City where the quality of education and the test scores are consistantly so high it’s not a surprise how passionate folks are. The interesting thing here is how passionate they are about the parks as well!

District	School	# of students incl. in 2008 API	2008 API (base)	State rank	Similar schools rank
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Brewer Island Elementary	376	939	10	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Foster City Elementary	466	919	10	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Baywood Elementary	312	913	10	8
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Bowditch Middle	927	900	10	5
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Audubon Elementary	335	880	9	2
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Highlands Elementary	241	850	8	1
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Beresford Elementary	149	832	8	10
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Laurel Elementary	220	819	7	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Meadow Heights Elementary	192	811	7	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	North Shoreview Elementary	174	808	7	7
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Borel Middle	916	795	7	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	George Hall Elementary	245	792	6	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Abbott Middle	718	789	7	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Park Elementary	233	782	6	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Sunnybrae Elementary	261	782	6	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	College Park Elementary	189	764	5	6
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Parkside Elementary	265	752	4	3
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Albion H. Horrall Elementary	249	748	4	8
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Fiesta Gardens International Elementary	262	744	4	1
San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	THE Bayside S.T.E.M. ACADEMY	532	704	4	6

I can’t resist…this makes three posts in the last week about FC schools. It all seems to follow that in the middle of the discussion of local school chaos California released it’s Academic Performance Index (API) and we’re still looking pretty darn good. In fact Brewer Island, Audobon and Bowditch have higher scores than last time this was done and Foster City School remains unchanged. Here’s a link to the last chart:

http://fostercityblog.com/2008/09/better-grades/

While we’re at it, here’s how the SF Chronicle describes these scores:

“California ranks all schools on a 1,000-point scale called the Academic Performance Index (API), which is based on how well schools perform on a variety of tests. A score of 800 is considered excellent. The state also assigns schools a number from 1 to 10, based on how well they do when compared with all schools in the state. For fairness, schools are also compared against those with similar demographics. A school may rank a mere 1 against all schools, but may shine as a 10 when compared only against schools with similar populations of students.”

There’s been quite a bit of discussion about the schools issues in Foster City and I’ve received several e-mails and had discussions with folks who have serious concerns about how these schools issues have and will effect home values in Foster City. The key questions are: 1) will the overcrowding in Foster City Schools cause the overall superb quality of these schools to diminish and 2) does the lack of a High School and the apparent lack of hope of one coming also mean homes values will decline.

On the second question, my little teensie, weensie opinion is that the lack of a High School has no effect at all on values here. I certainly wish that a High School had been built here…but it didn’t and the historic lack of a High School has already proven to be a non issue in this area. Property values exploded here on the same pace as all of the other Peninsula communities in the last ten years. Nobody seemed to care about the High School…or the lack of one for that matter. It always seemed to me that the obvious other benefits of life in Foster City out weighed this problem. It also out weighs the problem in San Carlos as well. I certainly believe that there’s never going to be a High School here, at least one that we would all consider a High School. No marching bands, no football or basketball teams…etc. Whatever land there once was for that type of school is long gone. Going forward Foster City home values are not going to be effected by this issue.

On the first question I think that the school API’s would have to significantly show a big loss before values would be impacted. FC would have to fall down into the 700’s or less to really cause problems. Whether or not this current overcrowding problem will cause this is certainly speculative. I don’t have the answer, but I doubt whether it will simply because so many parents in this town are so very proactive with their kids education. Who knows? I’m much more worried about escalating HOA dues, particularly in light of the potential of FEMA mandated flood insurance having an impact of condo/townhouse values. I also think the economy will sort itself out and lot’s of these kids will wind up back in private schools again…and thus loosen the overcrowding problem.

While these problems are being debated Foster City currently has 32 active single family houses for sale and 18 pending sales. Easily the best ratio so far in 2009. These buyers have not shied away from FC even in the current school drama environment. That’s a positive sign if you ask me.

Time will tell of course. Best wishes to all of the very dedicated and committed parents that are working toward preserving the great education that kids have historically received here. I hope your work pays off!

Any of you who have kids in Foster City schools right now knows that there’s a certain amount of craziness going on. Most of that craziness involves the fact that there are too many kids for the local public schools to handle and the question has become….is it time for Foster City to add another elementary school?

Foster City school in particular is using a number of portable units and the over crowding is sort of accute. Local groups have been petitioning both the school board as well as the city council to make specific plans for a fourth public elementary school and the idea of using Boothbay as well as other local parks has come up…along with, you guessed it, the 15 acre site/Parkview Plaza. Seems that everybody wants that land for something…except maybe Mirabella. Actually, they want it too…it’s just going to take a little longer to get it.

It seems to me that, all over the Peninsula, families are having a much harder time paying for private schools…and thus there’s a naturally larger influence by kids needing a public school that were not just a few years ago. Who knows if this trend continues or if the economy’s recovery will lighten the burden on the City and the district. Foster City, of course, has no legal responsibilty over the schools…it’s the school district’s area. Here’s a link to the city’s take on this along with a notice that this topic will be discussed this Thursday.:

http://www.fostercity.org/news/San-Mateo-Foster-City-Schood-District-Enrollment.cfm

They’re at it again! The state of California has just released their 2008 Academic Performance Index (API) which bases how a school performs on a variety of tests. A score of 800 is considered excellent. In addition, the federal No Child Left Behind Act ranks schools by a different measure called the Adequate Yearly Progress. A rising percentage of students must score “proficient” or “advanced” on their annual state exam, in addition to other indicators, in order to be considered successful. Both of these reports have been released and, no surprise, Foster City is excellent. In fact, FC’s scores have actually risen since last time…and that was excellent too! It’s interesting to note how many of the San Mateo schools did not meet the AYP criteria, while all of the Foster City schools have. Great stuff!

Here’s the breakout:

County	District	School	API 2008 Growth	API 2007 Base	Met all 2008 AYP criteria?
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Brewer Island Elementary	949	933	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Foster City Elementary	928	919	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Baywood Elementary	919	928	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Bowditch Middle	905	880	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Audubon Elementary	883	861	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Highlands Elementary	853	873	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Meadow Heights Elementary	836	799	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Laurel Elementary	830	834	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Beresford Elementary	830	800	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	North Shoreview Elementary	810	796	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	George Hall Elementary	806	786	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Borel Middle	804	807	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Abbott Middle	795	768	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Park Elementary	791	807	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Sunnybrae Elementary	780	788	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	College Park Elementary	765	748	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Parkside Elementary	761	789	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Albion H. Horrall Elementary	748	730	Yes	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	Fiesta Gardens International Elementary	745	766	No	Details
San Mateo	San Mateo-Foster City Elementa	THE Bayside S.T.E.M. ACADEMY	704	684	No

Did you see any of the Halloween movies? The first one was a classic, done on a very small budget in 1978. At the end the bad guy, Michael Myers, get’s shot 6 times and falls from a second story balcony. Upon looking out the window we discover that Michael is nowhere to be found. There are 9 Halloween Movies and in all but one of them Michael Myers meets some kind of grisly end…only to resurface inexplicably in the next movie. This darn guy just won’t stay dead!

It kind of reminds me of the perpetual discussion about a High School in Foster City. I wrote a post about this topic in early April, Foster City High School…Not and at that time a charter school idea had just been dispatched in Jamie Lee Curtis style by the City Council…and then yesterday I read another article about how another group wanting to build the Magnolia Science Academy, a charter high school, were voted down again on Monday night. I kept thinking “I wonder if the idea was shot several times by sheriff’s deputies, which then fell down a mineshaft, which collapsed when the deputies threw dynamite down it. (Halloween 4, The Return of Michael Myers).

Who know’s? Is dead really ever dead? Never say never…maybe one day a proposal with some real merit will be floated that could be approved. I personally don’t think it’ll ever happen, I think the land in question has more value to the city in other capacities going forward. Until then maybe we can get John Carpenter to film this saga?

Here’s a link to the story:

Charter School Story

Whenever I hear Realtors in the Mid Peninsula talk about property values and the current market sooner or later the subject of schools will enter the conversation and one of the most often repeated mantras is the excellence of the schools in San Carlos, Burlingame and Baywood School in San Mateo. Honestly, it’s rare for me to hear people touting Foster City schools…but they ought to because they’re uniformly excellent. Once again the State of California has released their Academic Performance Index (API) which is based on how well schools perform on a variety of tests. A score of 800 is considered excellent. Here’s how Foster City schools shake out versus the other areas:

Brewer Island (FC)       933

Baywood (SM)              928

Franklin (Bur)              924

Lincoln (Bur)               920

Foster City (FC)          919

Roosevelt (Bur)           910

Washington (Bur)        905

White Oaks (SC)          901

Arundel (SC)               897

Tierra Linda Mid (SC)   895

Bowditch Mid (FC)       880

Brittan Acres (SC)       879

Highlands (SM)           873

Audobon (FC)             861

Hmmm…Somehow I think Foster City not only is holding it’s own, but is in fact thriving when it comes to it’s schools. This is yet another factor in the preservation of value in real estate in this town.