Cupertino DailyNew Development And Our Schools
Whenever a new housing development, or a multitude of new offices are proposed in Cupertino a
collective groan is heard from one end of Cupertino to the other, due to the
impact our schools. If a significant number of new offices are built, Cupertino
is then mandated to provide new housing according to a formula mandated by
the state, so the new workers can live nearby (whether they choose to or
not.)
While new offices complexes seem to be good for our economy, they do not bring us the
same income that retail taxes deliver to our city coffers. While it may not seem
like a bad idea to build multi-storied condo complexes in Cupertino, they bring
little to the city in terms of new city taxes–and change the equation
for infrastructure we would need to provide (police, fire and impact on our schools.
What is seemingly not taken into consideration by the powers that be in Cupertino is
that our school boundaries are NOT THE SAME as our city boundaries. Most school
boundaries were drawn up long before Cupertino was incorporated, so many
students from surrounding cities attend Cupertino Schools. Since we do not have
a Cupertino Unified School District incorporating elementary, middle,
junior and senior high schools, many students from parts of Sunnyvale and San
Jose also attend what we consider to be Cupertino schools. School
boundaries are wide, spread over a large area and this impact should be taken
into consideration with development.
Since our city council can only control development within Cupertino, and our schools are
at their capacity, either a dialogue needs to be started with surrounding city’s
about the issue, or when developers come forth to propose new housing or
add to our current office allocation, part of the negotiation should
include the addition of new schools, or at the very least–new classrooms.
-editor
Tags: class rooms, New development and our schools, school
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