Milpitas Unified School District

​As we continue to discuss facilities needs at our Milpitas schools, we welcome your comments and questions. For more information about Measure AA or our schools, please contact Superintendent Cheryl Jordan at cjordan@musd.org.

We are proud of our Milpitas schools, which provide a strong academic foundation and innovative programs that prepare students to excel in college and future careers. Our District provides empowering learning opportunities for all students; however, our classrooms need to be improved.  As enrollment in our schools has increased over the years, we need additional classrooms to relieve overcrowding in our elementary, middle and high schools.  In addition, our classrooms and educational facilities need repairs and updates. Leaky roofs and windows need to be replaced, lighting and earthquake safety need to be improved and other updates, such as fencing and security cameras, are needed for student safety.

To relieve overcrowding and make repairs and upgrades to our schools, the Milpitas Unified School District Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to place the Milpitas School Safety and Classroom Upgrade Measure, a $284 million bond measure, on the November 6, 2018 ballot.  All funds from Measure AA would stay in our community to support our schools.

​Measure AA would provide locally-controlled funding to:

• Improve student safety and school security
• Relieve overcrowding and add classrooms and science labs at Milpitas elementary, middle and high schools
• Build a second high school campus at our Ayer site
• Repair leaky roofs and windows
• Upgrade science labs and classrooms for career technical education and workforce training programs
• Update learning technology in Milpitas classrooms and science labs to prepare all students for higher learning institutes and 21st-century careers

Yes, all funds would stay local. The measure includes strict fiscal accountability provisions:

• Annual audits would be required
• An independent citizens’ oversight committee would ensure all funds are spent only on voter-approved projects to support Milpitas schools
• By law, funds could never be taken away by the State or used for administrators’ salaries or benefits

Our high school is already overcrowded. The current enrollment at Milpitas High School is 3,210 students, which is far more than it was originally built to accommodate. As more students attend our schools, we need more classrooms to relieve overcrowding and accommodate our growing student population. The local measure would provide additional classrooms, science labs and school facilities to support career technical education and to prepare students for college and their future careers.  Additionally, we can build a second high school campus at the Ayer site.

Yes. The local measure could provide new classrooms to relieve overcrowding at our elementary schools. Specifically, the measure could provide new classrooms and facilities at Randall Elementary and Mabel Mattos Elementary so that more students can attend their neighborhood school. 
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The first phase of the new elementary school was just completed; however, the school only has the capacity for 238 students and will be open to lower grades only. In order to expand the school to students in 4th – 6th grade, the school will need to have capacity for over 700 children. This measure could provide additional classrooms and school facilities to complete the new elementary school. 

The cost of the measure is limited to no more than $60 per $100,000 of assessed value per year (not the market rate). The potential duration of the Bond measure is until 2047; however, the District expects the duration to be between 20-25 years.

YES!

The Ayer site on 1331 E. Calaveras Blvd. is an excellent location for a second high school campus.  Currently the district offices are located in five of the buildings at this location, and with future forward design thinking, those buildings can be replaced to create an additional high school focused on STEM and pathways to career.  Through corporate and community partnerships, the students would have opportunities for applied learning in the sciences, math, technology, computer science, business, and civil services, to name a few.  Envisioning the possibilities for a new way of teaching and learning that brings learning into the community and prepares students for the future of work is what will make this second high school campus state of the heart.

A second high school campus on existing district owned property is not only fiscally responsible, it is an investment in our students and community.  The estimated building cost is $34M.  This is not only a responsible solution to our second high school question, it is the pioneering answer to preparing our students for their future careers.

The entire Ayer site would become a true educational park encompassing the current Milpitas Adult Education School, Calaveras Hills High School and our new high school, the Milpitas High School Pathways Institute (unofficial name), and could potentially serve up to 1,000 students or more. ​

No. All funds generated by this measure would stay local to support Milpitas Unified School District schools. The measure would require annual audits and an independent citizen oversight committee. None of the funds could ever be taken by the State.

In 2012, over 64% of Milpitas voters approved a local school bond measure to address overcrowding in the elementary and middle school grades as well as make upgrades to our schools. The citizens oversight committee has reported that all bond projects have been completed on time and under budget. To view their reports, click here: http://www.musd.org/bond-and-construction.html#cbocmeetin

In 2014, over 73% of Milpitas voters approved the renewal of a local parcel tax measure that had been in place since 2010. This measure renewed the expiring parcel tax at the current tax rate, without increase. The local parcel tax measure provides stable funding to protect core academic programs and retain qualified teachers. Parcel tax measures and bond measures are used for different purposes—a Bond measure can only fund Building and facilities upgrades and Parcel tax measures can only fund Programs, think 'B' for buildings and 'P' for programs.   

Students living in new housing developments would attend our schools and would be accommodated within our district.  Any new home owners in our community would share in the cost of the local bond measure. 

​The amount of traffic on Escuela Parkway is a concern for all of us. While this is a City issue, the District would like to work on this problem with the community, as it would require a change in how we travel to and from school. Given that the Hetch Hetchy runs down the middle of Escuela parkway, the City and the District cannot modify the land above it. We are eager to work with the City and the community to find a solution. ​An immediate step we are taking is to promote the drop-off zone that the City has set aside on Jacklin Road just west of Escuela Pkwy.  

​The Milpitas Unified School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to place this local Measure AA on the November 6, 2018 ballot. Measure AA needs to be supported by 55% of those who vote on it to pass. All registered voters in the Milpitas Unified School District are eligible to vote on the measure.