Cupertino Facts

Category: School Closure

  • Home Values will Decline with CUSD Decline

     It is no secret that homes in CUSD command a premium to neighboring communities because of the high quality of schools. Real Estate listings in Cupertino specifically mention the Cupertino schools the children in the home will attend.

    But This May Not Last Forever

    In 2021 CUSD shut down three school campuses claiming a financial shortfall, even though their own projections show a surplus of over 39 Million dollars over the next five years.
    CUSD has the most crowded schools in Silicon Valley

    And parents are now increasingly sending their children to private schools
    The percentage of children in CUSD who are attending private schools has been rising dramatically. It has tripled in the past decade.
    The word is getting out that in spite of their high test scores, the overall educational experience being offered in CUSD is falling below the standards parents expect. 
    And they are voting with their wallets, by spending tens of thousands of dollars every year to send their children to private schools.

    Home Values Impacted Negatively

    This trend of falling confidence in CUSD schools will impact home values negatively since one of the primary reason homes command high value is not as relevant any more.

    We have already observed this with homes in parts of Sunnyvale School District (Cumberland area) commanding similar prices to homes in Cupertino, for homes of comparable size and age. A decade ago these homes used to about 15-20% less expensive than Cupertino.

    Preserve Home Values: Restore Vitality in CUSD Schools

    In order to ensure that Cupertino homes command a premium value, it is important to preserve the quality of CUSD schools. 
    • We need to roll back school closures
    • We need to plan for additional capacity as the thousands of homes in the pipeline are built
    Updated 12/25/2022

  • Whose Interests does JR Fruen Represent?

     JR Fruen is running again as a candidate for Cupertino City Council. The questions for voters to ask is:

    Whose Interests does JR Fruen Represent?

    This election is primarily a battle between

    • Those who want to preserve their neighborhood, and vote out those who support school closures
    • Those who want to serve investor’s interests which include closing schools to free up land for construction.

    Who Funds JR’s Campaign?

    JR has had close ties with the investor community. In 2018 he ran a PAC which received tens of thousands of dollars from investors and construction related entities:
    • Vallco owners $29,000.00
    • Plumbers / Steamfitters Union $10,250.00
    • Electrical Union $10,250.00
    • Sheetmetal Union $10,000.00
    • Sprinklers Union $10,700.00
    His 2022 campaign contributors include:
    Construction Related Entities:
    CREPAC (California Real Estate PAC) $2500
    IFTPE 21 (Worker’s Union PAC) $2000
    Plumbers Steamfitters & Refrigeration Fitters (Worker’s Union PAC) $1000
    Real Estate Broker (Milpitas) $1000
    People who advocated for School Closures:

    Richard Lowenthal who sponsors and nurtures a lot of the anti-resident candidates  ($4900)

    Hung Wei the Cupertino Council Member who opposed the City Council writing to CUSD to reconsider school closure ($4900)
    Rod Sinks who made a U-Turn to not put height limits on Vallco ($1000)
    Lorien Cunningham the CUSD Trustee who spearheaded the campaign to close schools
    Sheila Mohan who is standing for the Cupertino City Council because others asked her to un

    Ava Chiao the CUSD candidate who wants to shut down more schools and construct over the land

    Who is Endorsing JR’s Campaign?

    JR is endorsed by all the three CUSD trustees who voted to close CUSD schools in spite of strong opposition by the residents.

    SB10: Scott Wiener endorses JR!

    Senator Scott Wiener who authored SB10 which gives cities the choice to allow up to 14 units on a single family lot, has endorsed JR Fruen. JR is much more likely to to support SB10 than resident oriented candidates. Learn more about SB10 here.

    What is JR’s Past Record?

    As part of the Citizens’s Advisory Committee he was supportive of closing schools (and hence endorsed by all the three CUSD trustees who led the campaign to close schools)
    He runs an organization called Cupertino For All, which endorsed Prop-16, the proposition which was soundly defeated by the voters of California, and would have led to more discriminatory practices against Asian students.

    Please do not vote for JR Fruen if you do not want more schools to be shut down
    Please do not vote for JR Fruen if you do not want investors to control your city and SB10 construction permitted


    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Steven Scharf & Liang Chao for Cupertino City Council


    Please vote for Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board.

  • Sheila Mohan: Sponsored by those who Closed CUSD Schools!

    Sheila Mohan is one of the candidates for the Cupertino City Council Elections. 
    Is she the right choice for our city?

    Supported by those who forced CUSD School Closure

    • Councilwomen Hung Wei expressed strong opposition to the City Council writing to CUSD to review their decision to close schools. Hung Wei is actively campaigning for Sheila
    • Sheila is endorsed by CUSD board member Sylvia Leong who advocated  for school closure.

    She has little skin in the game to empathize with the children and parents who are affected by CUSD anti-children decisions.

    Why is Sheila Running?

    Sheila’s last term as a commissioner ended more than 15 years ago (Jan 2007, Library Commission). .

    Embezzlement Scam

    In 2013-2014 Sheila was employed by the City of Cupertino as Finance Director; this overlapped with the period where there was a major embezzlement scam in the city ($790K). She has conveniently chosen not to mention that even though that was her most recent engagement with the city! 
    And a recent audit of the city’s processes showed big gaps in financial processes something the Finance Director overseas.
    As residents’ we did wonder why Sheila who had withdrawn her engagement with the city many years ago, chose to run for City Council in 2022?

    But the mystery seems to have cleared itself!

    A recent article Sheila says, that she is running because some people asked her to run!
    “So, when longterm city leaders asked her to run for office, Mohan polled her family. They were all in.  Mohan says her 14 year old granddaughter supported her decision so she could “tell my friends that my grandmother is running for city council!”

    Sheila is also endorsed by ex-mayors who were on city council when the embezzlement occurred, and who are endorsing the school-closures.

    Campaign Paid for By…

    A Google Search for Sheila Mohan resulted in an advertisement paid for Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez’ campaign for Mayor of San Jose!

    Her campaign has a lot of construction industry interests, including air-conditioning and electrical companies, plumbing unions, and ex-officials who have been promoting the school closing trustees.

    Sheila is also NOT participating int he City of Cupertino’s Voluntary Campaign Expenditure Limit Program.

    Questions to Think About?:
    Why does her campaign has to be financed by an out of town politician?
    Why her donors include construction industry and unions?
     Why she is not participating in the voluntary campaign spending limit program?

    It is obvious that Sheila is running to rubber-stamp investor interests.

    Is Sheila the Right Choice?

    Sheila’s outreach towards the community has been limited, her website does not have much specifics on policy positions and also hides that she was the Finance Director when the embezzlement was happening.
    Given what is at stake here, we the residents should not take a chance on a candidate whose campaign is being sponsored by those advocating for CUSD school closure.

    Please vote for those who have a taken public stand against school closure.


    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Steven Scharf & Liang Chao for Cupertino City Council

    Together they can take steps to roll-back the school closure, and also prepare the City to welcome future residents, who will make the many thousands of new residences in the pipeline, their home.

  • Why some entities want to shut down Cupertino Schools?

    This post will provide background information about why some entities in the community want to close our schools


    Real Estate Values

    Real estate in CUSD commands premium prices, often 30-50% more than what you could get within 10 miles. Thanks to the excellent schools and the suburban feel, it is also a city where real estate retains values much better during downturns.

    Land for Future Development

    For investors, Cupertino is an ideal place to earn high returns with low risks; land to build is highly coveted by them.
    CUSD schools are one of the last reserves of open land in and around Cupertino. For investors, being able to build on that land can mean a windfall in profits since real-estate in CUSD commands premium pricing.

    CUSD Board: Predisposed to Closure

    Instead of working for the interests of the children and the community, three members of the CUSD board have been working to close schools.


    For the parents involved in the process, it was clear the board was not exploring options to keep schools open; even the charter given to the Citizen Advisory Committee was restricted to determine which schools to close. And even that was stage-managed to close certain schools.

    And the claim the enrollment is declining because of lack of housing is also not supported by data; the enrollment drop far exceeds the decline in the population of children in CUSD.


    Some parents did a deep dive into the books, and realized the case for closing schools for financial reasons was marginal at best. In addition, any financial reason to close CUSD schools has completely fallen apart with additional state funding [2]. 

    However, the process has not been rolled back. The three members of the CUSD board who voted to close schools also faced a recall effort[1]. 


    All three school-closure supporting CUSD board members are endorsing JR Fruen [3]. 


    Sheila Mohan has also been endorsed by Sylvia Leong [4].

    Overcrowded Cupertino Schools

    Closing schools would mean even greater crowding on already overcrowded campuses, children having to travel greater distances leading to reduced use of walk/bike methods, and much greater traffic in the remaining campuses. It would also be disruptive to students who will give up their friends’ & teachers and attend different schools.

    Rolling Back School Closure

    To roll back the decisions, it’s critical that both the City Council and CUSD Board retain a majority of resident focussed board members who will ensure the schools stay open, and not those who are sponsored by investor interests who want to close schools.

    Please vote for those who have taken a public stand against school closure.

    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Steven Scharf & Liang Chao for Cupertino City Council

    Please vote for Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board.

    Together they can take steps to roll-back the school closure, and also prepare the City to support the future residents who will make the 1000s of new residences in the pipeline their home.

    [1] https://www.recallcusdboard.org/

    [2] https://edsource.org/2022/20-billion-more-for-schools-community-colleges-under-gov-newsoms-revised-budget/672382

    [3] https://www.jr4cupertino.com/endorsements 

    [4] https://www.sheilamohan.com/meet-sheila 


  • CUSD Enrollment Decline Outpaces Demographics

    We are often told that CUSD is closing schools because enrollment is declining. How much of that is true?

    Lets dig in to the data:

    1. Child Population in CUSD (and neighboring districts)

    Source:kidsdata.org

    2. School Enrollment in CUSD (and neighboring districts)

    Source: kidsdata.org

    CUSD Enrollment Drop far Outpaces Demographic

    Note that the drop in CUSD enrollment far exceeds the slight drop in the number of school going children. That is because many parents are frustrated with the school board policies, including those which have led to some of the most overcrowded schools in the region.

    The percentage of CUSD school children going to private schools has grown 3x over the past 10 years. 

    We need to fix our public schools, and not make matters worse by closing more of them.