As parent I concur with Ms. Jack and I would like the board to explain this extravagant reserve. While the recent jump to $20 Mil is due to a one time influx, the district has had a steady reserve of $17 mil for quite few years, while making cuts to program and asking parents to raise money. Why M-A parents are asked to raise $2 Mil to pay for critical programs like AVID, guidance counselors, etc. while the district is hoarding money?

I was very impressed with Georgia Jack and will be voting for her.

Basic aid districts such as SUHSD must maintain larger reserves since they aren't getting any per student funding from the state and are more subject to variance in property tax revenues. It's pretty amazing that someone running for the board would advocate such an financially irresponsible level of reserves for a basic aid district as the 6-8% that Ms. Jack is quoted as suggesting.

Ms. Jack never suggested that SUHSD should keep a level of reserve of 7-8%, she merely suggested that a reserve of 20% should be explained and discussed at board meeting. I personally would add that I would like to see the board discuss and have a reserve policy rather than letting reserves go up while making cuts to programs (or while not funding critical programs.)
As for the "variance" of property taxes, really? In the last 12 years, while my kids were in the local basic aid district, I have never seen property taxes go down: worse that happened, they were flat.

There has been variation in property taxes, and the district is doing what ALL responsible basic aid districts do. Ms. Jack seems to be very good at throwing stones, yet is not being very transparent at all about what she would actually do about anything. She's also throwing stones about the district doing responsible planning for enrollment growth without saying anything specific about what she would do differently. People in the MA community can certainly see through this. Keep MA Strong!

Ms. Jack has ran a very positive campaign and has thrown no stones, unless you think that asking questions is throwing stones. She has been very clear on the kind of process she would use: involving all the communities! This board seem to cater only to the problems of Menlo Park and Menlo-Atherton - no wonder, 3 out of 5 board members are from Menlo Park! How about the other three high schools, should we keep all the high schools strong for all our students? The worst enrollment growth is going to occur up here at Carlmont High School, and what is this board doing to alleviate that? They do not even talk about it anymore! The incumbents may keep Menlo Park happy, but they are losing everybody else.

I was at the presentation that the SUHSD Superintendent made this week, and their plan includes doing plenty to relieve overcrowding at Carlmont. In fact, Carlmont ends up with by far the sweetest deal of all four high schools in their plan in terms of size and demographics. I don't see how anyone can accuse the board of only caring about Menlo Park, when the plan has Menlo Park taking over ALL of Ravenswood.

Long time resident, are you really implying that Carlmont gets the "sweetest deal" and that Menlo Park is being hurt by the enrollment of students from East Palo Alto? What is your real issue here?

M-A is the closest school to EPA and East Menlo. Why anyone would want to challenge the proposed change must have an agenda that they're embarrassed to admit publicly?

The Redwood City families north of the Fair Oaks area feel they are getting the short-end. They are now optioned to (choice) either Woodside or Sequoia. They are getting moved to schools that are farther away than M-A.

I would say that West Menlo is getting the sweet deal as everyone knows that they are closer to Woodside than M-A.

All in all, the SUHSD board seems to be trying to do the best they can given the circumstances and demands. There is no way they can gain 100% consensus on this. Some people will be happy and some will not.

I am not clear how as a resident of West Menlo Park I am getting a "sweet deal": is it because I am getting the privilege to drive 20-25 minutes to drop off my students at an overcrowded school? My children are only in pre-school and elementary still, and I do hope that this nonsense will stop before they get to high school. Sweet deal would be going to the closer school (like the Ravenswood students.)

With can't EPA get its own high school? All this nonsense about busing EPA kids to 4 different schools would end. The EPA community needs its own HS.