Cupertino Facts

Category: Schools

  • Local Parents Protest FUHSD Transition to Trustee Area Voting

    Local Parents Protest FUHSD Transition to Trustee Area Voting

    Over 2,200 residents from the Monta Vista and Lynbrook High School attendance areas have expressed opposition to the the Fremont Union High School District’s transition from at-large to by-trustee area elections. Residents have spoken out at board meetings, community meetings, and signed a Change.org petition.

    Feb. 13, 2024 FUHSD Board Meeting

    A Controversial Move

    With the previous at-large voting system, residents were able to elect all five FUHSD Board Trustees. But with the new Trustee Area voting system, residents will only be allowed to elect one trustee in their designated Trustee Area. See our previous article for more background. 

    FUHSD’s stated reason for transitioning from At Large to Trustee Area Elections is to avoid scrutiny under the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA). The CVRA, passed in 2002, helps minority groups more easily challenge At Large elections, on the grounds that they cause racially-polarized voting. However, to date, FUHSD has not done any analysis to determine whether there is racially-polarized voting in its district.

    Cupertino Councilmembers Question FUHSD Plan

    At the February 13th FUHSD Board Meeting, Cupertino City Councilmember Liang Chao, representing herself only, stated, “In the unanimous decision by the Supreme Court in August 2023, the Supreme Court raised the bar for the CVRA challenge. It specifically said alternatives could be ranked-choice voting and cumulative voting.” 

    Chao called for the FUHSD Board to immediately add an agenda item to consider other voting methods, and also “consider fiscal impacts of going through the lengthy redistricting process every 10 years with by-trustee area elections.”

    Cupertino Councilmember Kitty Moore, whose children attended FUHSD schools, also spoke out representing herself only. Moore stated, “I am very concerned about the profound lack of data concerning redistricting, especially considering that we are a high school district known for our academics. This could potentially expose the district to various risks.”

    Supporters of By-Trustee Areas

    According to the FUHSD presentation delivered by Superintendent Graham Clark, the switch helps North Sunnyvale residents. Historically, most FUHSD trustees have come from South Sunnyvale and Cupertino. North Sunnyvale has not had any trustees. With the transition, North Sunnyvale would always be guaranteed one board member. 

    One of the decision’s biggest advocates is an organization called Sunnyvale Equity in Education (SEE). SEE has stated in a Facebook post that its goals include achieving equal representation on the board, and, in the long term, opening its own North Sunnyvale school.

    Current and former Sunnyvale City Councilmembers are also proponents of the move. “No taxation without representation,” stated Sunnyvale’s Councilmember of District 5, which includes North Sunnyvale. “In the past 50 years, there has never been a Latino or a North Sunnyvale resident on this board. In the 40 years since the closure of Sunnyvale High School, North Sunnyvale residents have not enjoyed the same access or quality of high school educational resources as the rest of this district. Our residents deserve the same access to educational resources as South Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos, and San Jose residents.”

    Opponents of By-Trustee Areas

    Many Monta Vista and Lynbrook area parents expressed frustration with Trustee Areas, across multiple FUHSD meetings. Numerous public comments showed concern that the change would put Monta Vista or Lynbrook at risk of being closed, in order to make way for a Sunnyvale school. FUHSD currently has five high schools; it is unlikely to be able to afford six. During public meetings, several parents stated that it takes only three out of five board members to close a school. With the Trustee Area system, Southern FUHSD would be at risk of not having enough board members to vote against such a move, if it ever arose. 

    Many parents also stated that the change to Trustee Areas was made without their consent. All community outreach meetings occurred after the decision was made, asking residents to “choose a map” for Trustee Areas, rather than provide input on the Trustee Area decision itself. “By-Trustee Area will undercut the ability of every voter to have an impact, since we can only vote for one trustee every four years,” stated Councilmember Liang Chao. 

    Next Steps

    FUHSD now faces the challenging task of managing the needs of multiple parent groups. The District continues to reassure parents that it “has no plans to close schools”. However, it also refuses to definitively state that it “will not close schools.” Ultimately, this lack of certainty is leaving many questioning the district’s motives.

    How To Get Involved

    There are many ways local residents can share their opinions on the move to Trustee Areas. Most immediately, there are two remaining Map Hearing Schedules. These are held during the regular board meetings at the District Office (589 W. Fremont Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94087).

    • March 20, 2024 (6 P.M.)
    • April 24, 2024 (6 P.M.): This is the final map hearing where the board will approve a final map of Trustee Areas, as well as which areas will be up for election.

    Attend an FUHSD Board of Trustees meeting.

    View the presentation made during the Monta Vista High School Community Outreach meeting.

    Email:
    DO STAFF: [email protected] 
    BOARD & DO STAFF: [email protected]

    Those opposing the transition can sign the Change.org petition.

  • CUSD: Dispelling Disinfo with Data

    This email will debunk disinformation about CUSD with data. We also include video clips from Jerry Liu, a CUSD trustee who opposed school closure, who shares his experience and goes into more details.

    Disnfo #1: CUSD Budget Shortfall? No we have surplus!


    The big reason cited for the shutdown of schools was a projected budget shortfall. CUSD’s own projections show that it will end up with a surplus (revenue less expenditure in the table below) of $39.5 Million over the next five years.


    Please listen to current board member Jerry Liu who voted against school closure, who tells us that even this year CUSD will have a surplus of $16M!


    Savings from closing school campuses? It is like saving 50 cents while we have a $200 budget,, a reminder that the projected savings from closing a school campus was minimal

    Then why close schools during a once-in-a lifetime pandemic?
    Video

    This table is from Page 18 of CUSD Budget Adoption Report 

    Disnfo #2: Collapsing Child Population? No Its Stable!

    For the past decade, we have been repeatedly being told that CUSD enrollment is declining because the population of children in CUSD is declining.

    That is incorrect.


    The children population in CUSD has been fairly stable, fluctuating in a narrow band. The overall population is at the same point as it was about a decade ago.

    From kidsdata.org

    CUSD enrollment though is declining since parents are preferring private schools due to mismanagement by the CUSD board including the deeply unpopular decision to shut down school campuses.

    From kidsdata.org

    For those interested in more granular analysis, the date from the ACS Survey is available here including age-wise breakdown within the under-18 age-group

    The Future is in Your Hands


    To reiterate, a lot of disinformation which has been spread in the community, is debunked by data.


    Disinfo #1:  CUSD shut Schools because of lack of money

    => No. CUSD is projected to have a $39M surplus over next 5 years


    Disinfo #2:. CUSD enrollment is falling because number of Children in CUSD is dropping

    => No. Children population in CUSD is around the same level it was a decade ago

    We can only speculate why the coterie of ex-mayors and their protege who they get sponsor via endorsement and campaign finance support misled us. We do know CUSD has hired professional real-estate consultants to evaluate the desirability of CUSD land for investors. 

     



    In order to save our schools, and preserve our home values, it is critical that the City Council of Cupertino opposes any rezoning of school land  and preserves it for public usage. 

    VOTE WISELY

    To save our schools and preserve home values, please VOTE for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They have taken a public stand to keep school closure off the table and roll back the past decisions. They are not funded by external special-interests and will keep the interests of residents foremost.

    Please do NOT vote for JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan for Cupertino City Council, and Ava Chiao (CUSD).  They have been supportive of school closure and giving the land to developers, and have strong endorsements from the three CUSD trustees who closed the schools.  They have also receive extensive funding from construction interests, who covet the land our schools stand on, and not signed the City of Cupertino voluntary spending limit on election expenses.

     

    Your fellow neighbors from Cupertino

    (Some more videos with Jerry speaking are attached below)

     

    Video
    Video

  • How Regnart Elementary School was Shut Down

     

    In this mail, we go through two items: 

    (a) The painful journey to the closure of Regnart Elementary School

    (b) A note about who we are


    The Regnart Story:

    CUSD schools have one of the highest per-school enrollment in the region. A rational person would expect that the school board would prefer to distribute students evenly across different campuses. However, what happened at Regnart was exactly the reverse. 


    Regnart was one of the less crowded schools in the district. Instead of enabling open enrollment students to join Regnart, or open new programs there, the policy of the board was to do the reverse; i.e. to find opportunities to reduce the enrollment even further.

    1. The existing Transitional Kindergarten was shut down and relocated to another school.
    2. Open enrollment students who had applied to Regnart as their preferred school,were waitlisted and not allowed to enroll there..

    Regnart had a healthy enrollment of 426 in 2019. Meanwhile, neighboring Blue Hills had 361 students, and nearby Montclaire had about 445. However, those schools which also happened to be the home schools of two trustees (Lori-Montclaire & Phyllis-Blue Hills), received students during open enrollment who were channeled away from Regnart.

    This drop in enrollment, which was manufactured by CUSD by closing down the transitional kindergarten and not allowing open enrollment to Regnart was then used to justify the closure of Regnart!


    The Regnart community organized itself and offered CUSD many ideas. That included ideas for transforming Regnart into a magnet school, providing stop-gap funding to tide over the pandemic and even raising more than $100,000. However the Board Members refused to consider alternatives.

     

    Deception from the Board


    The primary reason given by CUSD to close school campuses was that they did not have enough funds. However, whenever parents dug into the data, they realized that the projections did not justify closing schools. There were two reasons:


    1. The expected savings from closing a campus was minimal because most of the expense goes to staff pay; and class sizes in CUSD were already near state mandated maxima, so staff cuts were minimal.


    2. CUSD itself was unlikely to face the funding shortage which would have justified cost cuts in the first place. CUSD had an ending fund balance of $45M at the time of closure. This has now risen to $53M and is projected to grow!

    Lack of Transparency

    A question to ask is why was CUSD in such a rush to close schools during a once in a 100 year pandemic?


    While CUSD was shutting down Regnart they were simultaneously expanding the CLIP program to a new site. That goes against their claim of funding gap leading to program closures. 

     

    PRA requests have also revealed that the CUSD board has been communicating withReal Estate Development consultants to evaluate the ‘attractiveness’ of various sites to investors. 


    Regnart is nestled in a quiet neighborhood in Monta Vista with multi-million dollar homes, and is prime land for development of expensive homes. 

     

    Choice For Voters?

    Is this the way you want your school districts to be run? Why were the lives of children and families disrupted during the pandemic, when there was no compelling reason to close already crowded campuses?

     

    Whose interests is CUSD serving: real estate investors or our children?

     

    If, like us, you feel the need for change, please do NOT vote for candidates sponsored by the coterie of ex-mayors for the Cupertino City Council (JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan) or CUSD (Ava Chiao) who also been endorsed by the three CUSD trustees who spearheaded the effort..

     

    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They will  work to roll-back school closure, and ensure that the local agencies work for the betterment of the residents.


    A note about who we are


    Cupertino Facts is an effort is by a group of long-term residents of  Cupertino, who have come together to inform our neighbors about the misinformation which the special-interests spread in our city. Most of us hold mid to senior level professional roles in the Tech Industry, and are united by our desire to preserve the wonderful city we call home. 

    We do not have any big donors, and would love to get your contribution to help fight the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) spread in our city by special interests. We would also like to hear from you about other topics you would like to learn more about.

    .

    JR Fruen’s Campaign Finance Violations

    In closing, we would like to inform our readers that one of the candidates sponsored by the coterie of ex-mayors, JR Fruen, was issued a warning letter by the FPCC due to campaign finance reporting errors in 2020. In the 2022 cycle, there are two other violations by JR Fruen which have been reported to the FPCC under COM-08232022-02558 including Laundering Campaign Contributions.

  • Lobbying and CUSD Land Grab

     

    This email is an effort to inform you of special interest lobbying, and how CUSD schools are being closed to be sold to investors.

    Lobbyist Registration

     

    In the first half of 2021, the resident oriented City Council of Cupertino passed a lobbying ordinance asking entities who were receiving compensation to lobby with the city, to register with the city. Similar lobbying ordinances exist in many Bay Area jurisdictions including Santa Clara, San Jose and Palo Alto. At least ten entities who lobby in the city have voluntarily registered increasing the transparency and reducing conflict of interest.


    Who Opposes Registering as Lobbyists?

     

    You may have received inflammatory mailers from a self-styled coterie of ex-mayors, disparaging the council chosen by the voters in 2018. Not surprisingly, on Nextdoor, a leading member of the coterie cheered a lawsuit opposing the city’s requirement for paidlobbyists to register.

     

    The lawsuit, which challenges the requirement register as a paid lobbyist based on theFirst Amendment, was filed one year after the ordinance came to force, just in time for the elections. Multiple people, who strongly advocate for the coterie’s agenda like school closure, have had a close association with the particular local chapter of the organization (LVW) which is opposing the transparency ordinance.
     

    Special Interests Abusing Neighborly Trust


    As residents of the same city, we tend to trust our fellow residents’ view more than an entity we are not familiar with. However, this trust can be misused by special interests, when the special-interests compensate certain residents to act as lobbyists for their interests.


    The lobbying ordinance is designed to empower residents with the information to evaluate whose interests a particular person represents, and then make an informed decision. 

    That the leading member of the coterie of ex-mayors is not interested in transparency speaks volumes of their approach.

    Selling CUSD Land to Investors

    Another pet project of the coterie of ex-mayors is shutting down school campuses, in the already overcrowded schools of CUSD. During the recent school closure drama, residents were informed that CUSD has no money to run the schools; a claim debunked by many parents and invalidated by the huge surplus CUSD currently has.

    A CUSD parent discovered this email after a public record request, which clearly shows CUSD studying how attractive our closed school sites will be for real-estate investors!. 

    It should be obvious by now that our school going children and families went through the dislocation during the pandemic, so that wealthy investors could grab more land to profit from. 

     

    Note that this pattern of trying to sell the school land is not new; in 2017 CUSD, then led by another protege of the coterie of ex-mayors, tried to sell off the land for Luther School and Park in Santa Clara, to none other than the Vallco investor, Sand Hill Properties (SHP)

     

    Progress after 2018 Elections


    The resident focussed council first took charge after Nov 2018 elections, when the voters shunned the money power on display from special interests. Since then, the resident-focussed council has worked hard to fix financial loop-holes (Internal Audit, increase transparency (lobbying), ensure greater resident involvement (Engage Cupertino), and unblock sensible development.

     

    Many of the development projects like Westport and Canyon Crossing, which were stuck in the pipeline with the previous council have been approved with a usage-mix which addresses long standing city needs like senior care, without adverse impact on traffic. 

    The Vallco project is waiting for the cleanup of toxic waste which is being coordinated by the Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health.


    Please Make an Informed Choice


    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They will enhance the dignity and respect of our Council and School District, work to roll-back school closure, and ensure that the local agencies work for the betterment of the residents.

    Please do NOT vote for the candidates backed by this coterie, who are also endorsed and supported by the three CUSD trustees who spear-headed the effort to close schools. These candidates, supportive of school closures, are JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan (City Council) and Ava Chiao (CUSD) are a risk to our home values and should be actively opposed. 

  • Save CUSD, Save Home Values

     

    It’s no secret that homes in Cupertino command a significant premium due to the stellar reputation of CUSD schools. However, due to the anti-children policies of the CUSD board, 33% of all eligible children are now attending private schools. This number has grown 3x in the past decade. 

    With parents fleeing CUSD due to lower desirability of schools, our home values are at risk.

     

    One of the big reasons for the flight was the mismanagement by CUSD including overcrowding, and the deeply unpopular decision to close three campuses on extremely flimsy and unsubstantiated grounds. In order to restore vitality to CUSD, it’s critical that we do not close any more schools, and  reopen the recently closed campuses.

     

    In order to secure the future of our children and preserve home values, please do NOT vote for any candidate who is  supported (eg: campaign funding, endorsed) by those who spear-headed the effort to close our schools or construction interests who covet the land under our schools

     

    To preserve home values, please VOTE for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They have taken a public stand to keep school closure off the table and roll back the past decisions. They are not funded by external special-interests and will keep the interests of residents foremost.

     

     

    Please do NOT vote for JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan for Cupertino City Council, and Ava Chiao (CUSD).  They have been supportive of school closure and giving the land to developers, and have strong endorsements from the three CUSD trustees who closed the schools.  They have also receive extensive funding from construction interests, who covet the land our schools stand on. 

  • Whose interests does Ava Chiao Represent?

    School Closures amid Over Crowded Schools

    CUSD has among the most crowded schools in the region. In spite of that there are certain elements who want to close our school campuses.

    Ava Chiao & School Board Future

    One such candidates is Ava Chaio for CUSD Board. 
    Ava has stated that she supports school closure. Beyond supporting school closure, she has even proposed plans on how the land of the closed schools should be used to build housing. 
    Ava is backed by unions who are pouring in tens of thousands of dollars to her campaign; she will not be representing the parents’ or the children’s interests on the board.

    Ava is being supported by other candidates who have championed for school closure like JR Fruen. Ava has contributed to JR Fruen’s campaign.

    No Plans to Adress Students’ Challenges

    However, we have seen little from Ava on how the problems created by over crowded schools will be addressed.
    Whether it is the lack of lockers in middle school, children not having table space to have their lunch (they sit on the ground), the large traffic bottlenecks, Ava has no plans to address those.

    School Closure & Property Values

    With more than 30% of children in CUSD going to private schools, one of the major reasons why people paid premium prices for Cupertino homes is fading away. This will impact the desirability of Cupertino and will impact property prices negatively.

    Save Cupertino Schools and Your Home Values

    Even if you do not have school going children, your home values are strongly impacted by the quality of schools.
    In order to ensure that CUSD schools thrive and your homes do not lose value, please do not vote for any candidate who supports school closure.
    Ava Chiao has even proposed plans for how to use land under the closed schools; she has no plans on how to reduce the exodus to private schools from CUSD.
    To preserve home values, please vote for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board.

  • 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

  • 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.