Dear Menlo Park City Council Members, Planning Commission Members, and City Manager Murphy,
We greatly appreciate your willingness to engage with us, the Menlo Park City School District (MPCSD), and understand our community’s needs as you further draft and develop the Menlo Park Housing Element and specifically consider the public space included in the Parkline development plans. MPCSD is committed to providing the highest quality education to Menlo Park’s youth from pre-K to 8th grade, and as I mentioned in my public comment at the June city council meeting, MPCSD remains pro-housing development and pro-housing diversity and stands ready to welcome and educate the students generated by new developments. Given the impact that increased housing will have on our schools, it is imperative that you continue to consider our need for additional space/land. We need you as advocates to ensure that supportive measures for MPCSD are included in development proposals. This letter provides an update on the challenges we face, the impact we anticipate, and the ideas we have specifically regarding the public space being considered as part of the Parkline development.
The Housing Element will create funding challenges for MPCSD as more students does not equate to more funding; here are the facts:
* MPCSD spends about $26,000 per student, per year.
* MPCSD receives no additional funding per student as more students are added.
* Property taxes only account for about 62% of the operating budget.
* MPCSD does not currently have funds to purchase land and cannot afford property at market rate.
Beyond funding challenges, MPCSD does not have the physical capacity (i.e., land and facilities) to absorb a large increase in enrollment.
* MPCSD anticipates that the impact of nearly 3000 new housing units will very likely require more learning space for our students and more operating space for our district.
* MPCSD does not own any property other than what is now in use by the district.
* MPCSD schools are already among the largest in the county, and, in order to accommodate a large influx of future student enrollment resulting from the Housing Element, MPCSD would most likely need to expand its property and facilities.
* MPCSD has unfunded facilities needs that are centered on safety and security which must be addressed for our existing buildings and schools; therefore, we cannot prioritize purchasing additional land through the bond resolution that we have approved for the November 2024 ballot.
* Encinal School is specifically impacted when considering the Parkline development and is also our campus that is most challenged by issues related to parking/traffic and limited access for bikers/pedestrians. Student capacity at Encinal is limited.
* Encinal School currently shares space with the MPCSD District Office, Maintenance Operations and Transportation (MOT) Department, and Teacher Education Resource Center (TERC).
A successful path forward will require creative solutions and partnerships between the District, the City, and the developers.
* Regarding Parkline in particular, there are innovative solutions that do not require building a new school, but could utilize the public space. (Note that MPCSD still anticipates the need to eventually expand our learning environments.) Here are two examples of possibilities at Parkline:
* Finding land to relocate our District Office or a specific department like Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation (MOT) could allow for more learning space to be developed on our existing property.
* Another idea could include centralizing and expanding our Early Learning Center program to the Parkline property, which would open existing spaces on our elementary campuses.
* MPCSD is studying ways to mitigate projected enrollment imbalances at specific schools. Most of the Housing Element is projected to impact Encinal and Hillview schools. During the 23-24 school year the board approved slight changes to internal boundaries to alleviate enrollment at Encinal through increasing access given proximity to families closer to Oak Knoll. MPCSD is doing our due diligence to make internal adjustments while knowing that future mitigation could require more than we are capable of doing without additional space/land and/or partnership.
* MPCSD, like all public schools, faces the ever-challenging environment of recruitment and retention of teachers and staff given the high cost of living here in Menlo Park and the greater Bay Area. With more staff commuting from farther away than ever before, we see a great need and opportunity for the City to support and ensure that Teacher Housing for all schools within Menlo Park is a consideration when creating developer agreements. Most recently, State Superintendent Thurmond launched a statewide housing plan to accelerate housing development and provide educators with housing options through utilizing land owned by local educational agencies. Unfortunately, MPCSD currently has no developable land.
* Housing access for MPCSD staff could be in the form of below market rate for-sale townhomes for educators, below market rate for-rent housing for educators, or developer set-asides for educator housing.
* Finally, please continue to prioritize accessibility and safety in terms of pathways and safe routes for our students to walk and ride through the development as they navigate to and from school.
We ask that you seriously consider and prioritize MPCSD’s needs and interests when creating the Developer Agreements. As we all plan for the future, let’s pursue thoughtful and innovative solutions starting with some of the examples shared above that could help address the needs of our community and our schools. As I have said before, we must remember that strong schools = strong communities.
I would like to request a meeting, to discuss our needs and ideas further and hear more about your process. Our board president, Francesca Segre and I will make ourselves available. Please let us know who would be the best person to meet with at this time.
Thank you again for your attention, consideration and partnership.
Sincerely,
Kristen Gracia, Superintendent
& Menlo Park City School District Board of Trustees
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Kristen Gracia
Superintendent
Menlo Park City School District
