9 responses to “BSD: $100 million ask goes to voters”

1. Mom

   June 23, 2026

   It’s always just a little bit more. Death by a thousand cuts. None of these cities or schools work to reduce spending. They just put their hands in our pockets a little bit deeper.

2. Joe

   June 25, 2026

   This is what I mean by seeing what other bonds and taxes are on the November ballot. Buried in the Daily Post piece about the Community College Board meeting to decide on what settlement to take from the six construction companies that bribed Ron Galatolo (due for sentencing on July 31) is this nugget:

   “The board tonight is expected to vote on whether to place a new bond on the November ballot at the rate of $18 per $100,000 of a property’s assessed value, generating $73 million for the district.”

   This from the board that gave us “free college” and heavily subsidized housing at a “community college”

   https://burlingamevoice.com/2025/12/14/csm-free-college-and-new-housing/

3. Joe

   June 25, 2026

   Tack this big boy on as well:

   The California Second Mortgage Homebuyer Program and Revenue Bond Initiative (#25-0013) has qualified for the ballot in California as an initiated state statute on November 3, 2026.

   A “yes” vote supports this initiative to:

   establish a second mortgage homebuyer program for qualified homebuyers — defined as California residents of at least one year who earn at or below 200% of the area median income for a similar-sized family in the county or city where the home is located and provide a down payment of at least 3% of the purchase price — on qualifying homes administered by the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), and

   authorize the CalHFA to issue up to $25 billion in bonds to fund the program.
   ——————-
   $25 billion. Anyone remember how we got into the last financial meltdown?

4. Bruce Dickinson

   June 25, 2026

   Bruce Dickinson has written extensively on this topic in the past, but as an FYI to some of my newer fans, per my analysis, BSD is actually a pretty lean organization. For the amount it spends per pupil, the outcomes are extremely favorable, and the administration and district offices are anything but “bloated.”

   Remember folks, good schools are one of the top contributors to property values. And given that Burlingame has so much multi-family housing, it will never achieve the same spending per pupil as places like Hillsborough or Portola Valley, which retain far more of their property taxes due to having little or no multi-family housing.

   Top rated schools are probably adding at least $300 per square foot in real estate value and likely more. So ironically, the parcel taxes may actually be some of the best “improvement” spending you can make if you care about the value of your home. Compared to neighboring communities without great schools and with lower real estate values ( probably around $300 per square foot lower, go figure!) this isn’t some wild theory. Folks, I put my pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of you, but once my pants are on, I look at the data!

   That said, yours truly does think Joe has a point on whether $100 billion in capital spending is really needed, especially compared with spending on teacher salaries and programs. I would also be remiss if I didn’t say that the purchase and reopening of Hoover School was a suboptimal decision versus expanding Lincoln, Franklin, and potentially other campuses. That decision proved to be very costly.

   During Covid, BSD lost almost as many students as were enrolled at Hoover School. Of course, enrollment recovered, but running a very small campus where the district cannot take advantage of scale is inherently expensive. Sometimes what the district needs is LESS cowbell, but may need MORE scale, discipline, and a hard look at capital allocation!

5. Bruce Dickinson

   June 25, 2026

   Millons not Billions $! Yours truly is quite used to the B-word these days! *wink*

6. Joe

   June 26, 2026

   Thanks, BD. I like the analysis on +$300 per square foot. I think there are a couple other factors driving it–neighborhoods with character (under threat), good police and fire (stable but more traffic enforcement would insure) and vibrant downtowns–plural.

   There’s the famous quip, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money,” which is universally—albeit incorrectly—attributed to the late U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen. Dirksen himself reportedly told an associate that a reporter made it up during an interview, but he decided never to correct the record because “it sounded so good”.

7. Grace

   June 26, 2026

   Thank you for highlighting Silversmith’s quote “$100 million bond for the 100-year-old schools.” As if there have never been any improvements to the schools for 100 years. There were a couple of other whoppers that made her either sound like she does not understand responsible financial metrics or she is gaslighting us.

   Bruce, I’m interested in your $300 sf number. Does having nice parks, a low crime rate, a walkable community, great restaurants and shopping, proximity to the airport and business centers etc. also factor into the increased property value? I tend to believe that a large part of an education is what the child and parents but into it. Higher test scores don’t necessarily correlate to a schools physical campus. There are great teachers at all levels of schools, including ones with low performance schools; they are more likely low performing due to language barriers and parents not being able to hire tutors. Before giving more money, I would like to see an in-depth explanation of exactly where the money would go-the traffic circulation item seems hokey.

8. Bruce Dickinson

   July 3, 2026

   Grace, yours truly does the analysis this way: The parks, low crime rate, walkability, restaurants, shopping airport are essentially fungible between Millbrae, San Mateo and Burlingame. They all offer varying degrees of the same thing. What isn’t the same are the consistency of the schools, from the elementary and intermediate level all up to the high school.

   Burlingame price per square foot, is roughly $1,550. Millbrae and San Mateo are at $1,230 and $1,160 respectively. Places like San Bruno or Foster City which are somewhat lower and where location can play a bigger role (more airport noise, wind ) is around $900 -$940. San Carlos, Belmont vs a Redwood city is another useful comparator. San Carlos is around $1,390 with again that town having much more consistent schools, Belmont around $1,300. So Bruce Dickinson thinks that the $300 is pretty accurate and the rank order of schools is highly correlated to real estate values when controlling for all variables.

   Small subsidies in the form of parcel taxes and bond measures when multiplying by square footage can be worth half a million dollars to a million dollars. Looks like a great ROI to me if that’s what it takes to get the schools to a pretty high level, and no doubt the extra moola spent on tutors or tiger parents helping with math problems does make a difference too. Same thing with community charity organizations like BCE.

   Last time I checked Burlingame was the lowest of the spending per pupil of average daily attendance of the Peninsula cities: Hillsborough at $32k, Redwood City $23k, San Mateo-Foster City $22.7k, San Carlos $17.4k, Millbrae $16.7k and Burlingame $16.0k. Given the test scores and school rankings (when adjusted for individual demographics eg in Burlingame having large multi-family, immigrant population that drags scores down, but are still high even with that factor), I would be remiss if I didn’t say there seems to be no issues with how BSD spends its money, in fact I think it raises more questions as to how the other districts are spending their money!

9. Grace

   July 12, 2026

   BD I was in real estate development for most of my career as a VP in charge of all aspects of projects from inception through closing. From working with my marketing team and outside consultants, I can definitely tell you that Millbrae, Burlingame and San Mateo are not remotely the same; in fact, neighborhoods within each of these cities are also vastly different and relate to different types of buyers. A park is more valuable to people that live nearby as opposed to those across town. Some people enjoy living in the hills with a view while others want their kids to be able to play in the flat street in front of their house. Lots of people do not like Millbrae because they do not have their own police office despite the sheriff doing just as well. People living near Bart and the airport have to deal with homeless and strangers parking near their homes. Etc. Moreover, you cannot compare how much schools spend on students and chalk it up to Burlingame schools being more efficient or students being penalized by lower spending. Each school district is unique as is each school within a district. For example, San Mateo has a higher percentage of students that do not speak English as a first language at home, thus necessitating more spending on ESL teachers and aids, which I assume is funded by money from the fed govt. I’m sure Hillsborough schools spend more on extracurricular activities which drives up the spending. So, if you want an honest comparable number, you have to strip out all the extras.