We
’re glad to hear that Morgan Hill School District officials are
hosting a workshop on June 9 to study the development plans for the
Coyote Valley.
We’re glad to hear that Morgan Hill School District officials are hosting a workshop on June 9 to study the development plans for the Coyote Valley. But a workshop is not enough.
You can’t go anywhere in this district without hearing people advocating for splitting the school district. People are worried about the number of schools the Coyote Valley’s 50,000 residents will need at build-out. Given the MHUSD’s poor track record on delivering schools on time and on budget, that’s a valid concern. They’re also worried that Coyote Valley and south San Jose residents will outnumber – and outvote – Morgan Hill and San Martin residents when the valley is built out, possibly controlling school board elections and the fate of our local schools.
But there will be fiscal impacts if the Coyote Valley’s property taxes are lost to the MHSD. And if the Coyote Valley becomes a new district, what will become of the portion of the MHSD in south San Jose where there is an elemetary school and a middle school? We don’t need guesses and opinions, we need studies from educated, informed experts.
Trustee Mike Hickey was quite right when he told reporter Marilyn Dubil that he needs more information.
“We need to take some time and look at this very carefully,” Hickey said.
The best thing to do at this time is to hire – even in these budget challenged times – experts who can make reliable projections about the fiscal impact to our school district – both in expenses and in revenues – to keeping and splitting from the Coyote Valley in one year, five years, 10 years and at build-out.
There’s no question the development is massive. The Coyote Valley Specific Plan projects a population of 80,000, with 50,000 new jobs and 25,000 new homes.
It might turn out that dividing the district is the best thing for everyone involved. It might turn out that losing the Coyote Valley’s property tax revenues would have a huge negative impact on the MHSD’s bottom line. We don’t know – and without a serious, reliable study, neither does anyone else.
We’re glad the school district’s paying attention to the Coyote Valley. But the first step ought to be a study to look dispassionately evaluate the options the district faces.
Without such a study, any decision is an uniformed guess – and the students, parents and taxpayers of this district deserve better than that.
Tell school board members what you think should happen. Make the workshop just the first step.
The workshop is at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday at the District Office, 156000 Concord Circle.
