Posted in Community, Finances by: Seth
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13 Nov
Although not officially over, it looks like updates to the vote count have not been kind to Measure S. There was some glimmer of hope that late-counted votes would give us an extra percentage point and bring us over the 2/3 supermajority needed. However, the latest returns actually have that percentage going down. […]
Posted in Community, Finances by: Seth
4 Comments
05 Nov
As you may have noticed, in this blog I shy away from commentary on national and state politics — not that I don’t have strong opinions — it’s just that I want to focus attention on what directly affects San Carlos schools. So, in that spirit, I won’t comment on the presidential election and […]
Posted in Community, Finances, Reflections by: Seth
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01 Nov
Although I imagine many of you have already voted, I certainly couldn’t let this weekend go by without reminding everyone how crucial it is to vote YES on MEASURE S. Already woefully underfunded, our school district was severely impacted by this last State budget crisis (and, by all accounts, the situation will actually get […]
Posted in Finances by: Seth
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05 Oct
With all of the debate over the last week about the recently passed $700 billion “bailout” by the Federal Government — and I certainly don’t wait to debate the pros and cons of that — a lot has been focused on the affect on “Main Street” — how it affects homeowners, small businesses, etc. […]
Posted in Finances by: Seth
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18 Sep
What do these two things have to do with one another? Unfortunately there is a fairly direct line between the politics played by our elected officials in Sacramento and how we decide to fund public education.
Gerrymandering is the practice of manipulating electoral district or constituency boundaries for electoral advantage. In other words, draw […]
Posted in Finances, Reflections, Volunteerism by: Seth
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04 Aug
Tonight at a special board meeting (where I actually dialed in from New Orleans — on a business trip), the School Board unanimously approved placing a measure on the November ballot to increase the existing parcel tax by $75 per parcel, for a total of $185. In addition, this measure would not have a […]
Posted in Finances by: Seth
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25 Jul
Last night the School Board met to discuss the possibility of placing a new Parcel Tax measure on the ballot in November. See the article in the San Mateo Daily News that discusses the meeting. The new ballot measure would effectively replace the existing parcel tax (Measure D), increase the per parcel amount […]
Posted in Finances, Reflections by: Seth
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29 Jun
Although it came with little fanfare, the School District and the San Carlos Teachers Union did settle the contract for teachers’ salaries for both this past year and the year coming up. See the Supertendent’s letter announcing the settlement.
As I have mentioned before, I was confident that we would work out a fair deal, […]
Posted in Finances, Volunteerism by: Seth
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11 Jun
If it were only that simple. As we’re close to the end of the school year (and the school’s fiscal year at the end of June), the San Carlos Educational Foundation has been furiously fundraising to reach its goal of $1 million dollars raised for our schools — a truly amazing feat. They […]
Posted in Finances by: Seth
6 Comments
04 Jun
One of the principles of the airline industry’s business model is “yield management” — maximizing the likelihood that any given airplane would be full with passengers. As much of the cost in flying an airplane is fixed, any empty seat causes almost 100% of that lost revenue to flow to the bottom line. […]