001Good evening everybody. It's six o'clock and before we have roll call, uh we do have a notification of remote participation. Uh Mike. >> Yeah, thanks David. Uh pursuant to Assembly Bill 2449, I'm participating remotely due to just CODs. Uh specifically due to caregiving need for a family member, I confirm that no individuals 18 years of age or older are present with me. And during the meeting, I'll participate from a non-public location and my remote address will not be disclosed. >> Thank you very much. And with that now noted, Evelyn, roll call, please. >> Trusty Wells >> here. >> Trusty Lee >> here. >> Trusty King >> here. >> Vice President Marquez >> here. >> President Weekly >> present. All right, I've got everybody on deck. So, welcome everybody. Uh today is a special meeting where
002we are going to be reviewing and approving resolution number 21 calling an election. Um so uh with that it's really just focused on that one item. Uh we're not allowed to discuss other stuff. Do people have any changes they would like to propose to this agenda? Seeing none, I'd like to call for an approval of the agenda. >> I move to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Hi. >> Oh, we have to do roll call. >> Oh, yes. Let's take votes now for the approval of the agenda. >> Trusty Wells. >> I. >> Trusty Lee. >> I. >> Trusty King. >> I. >> Vice President Marcus. >> I. >> President Weekly. >> I. The motion carries. Very good. Um, I think I did see a public comment card come in. Okay.
003Wonderful. All right. First up in person, I would like to call Jessica to the stand, please. You have three minutes to talk. >> All right. Um, I am Jessica. I'm the parent of two kids in the district. Um, so I've had firsthand experience with the need for funding from the parcel tax that you're going to be talking about tonight. Um, all of our surrounding school districts have higher parcel taxes than Redwood City School District, some by an order of magnitude. Um, and so our district genuinely has less money than all of our surrounding districts in the Bay Area. This parcel tax, if it were to be voted in by our community, would rightsize the RCSD budget as compared to other districts. Um, I've also been a part of the iterative process to write the actual
004language for the parcel tax. We've had multiple meetings between parents from um schools and throughout the district uh and the district staff developing a joint community vision um and working to address concerns from a broad range of um community members. And I've been really impressed with how responsive the district has been to those concerns from community members and the ability to incorporate those into the actual language of the bill. So, um I'm just here saying that I support the um measure and uh thank you for considering it for the students of the district. >> Wonderful. Um, do we have any other speaker? Yes, Evelyn indicates. All right. Uh, El Cole Carr, um, you've put in a comment card and now is your time to speak. If you can unmute yourself. >> Hi. Uh, thank you
005for um, hearing me. I I just want to echo Jessica's remarks and encourage the board to put this partial tax on the June ballot. Um if it does pass, it would just greatly benefit all of the Redwood City Schools and um just be very very very valuable to um to all of the children and the families that um RCSD supports. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Do we have other online comment? >> Uh, no more comment. >> All right. Okay. I think that's it. And so with that, I think that ends our public comment. And so now we move on to number six, a public hearing regarding proposed educational parcel tax. Um, so we've got a presentation here. And no, uh, we've got an attachment here. Yeah. All right. So there's the notice as
006attachment. Um, is there anything that we need to do with this item other than to note it >> after this? >> Right. After this, the action item. Yep. Okay. Well, noted the public hearing and now we're on to 7.1, which is the adoption of resolution number 21. So, I think this is the point where we talk as a board about the proposed resolution. Well, um first of all, I want to say thank you to everyone that has been involved in this um endeavor with moving forward with um a partial tax. Um it is very important as um Jessica stated um it's sad to know that some districts are less fortunate than others and I think it's just unfortunate and that's just the way the funding works. Um I look forward to this parcel tax. Um
007it will benefit our district. Um one thing to point out is obviously for all the senior citizens they would be exempt from this. Um I do know that a lot of people may find um you know the another addition to their property tax. But again, this is an exemption for um a lot of the senior citizens. If they want to opt out, um they could just not opt out and then continue to um support the um school district if they wish. So, um at this point, those those are my only comments. >> Thank you. Others >> um I I wanted to just say thank you for some of the clarifications that were added recently. Um I do think they highlight all the feedback from the community and also from the district on how we really
008want to kind of use this money. So um really the focus is retaining teachers um and then also distributing to the schools with an equity lens I think um is the right way to spend the money and clearly we do need it. So >> thank you others. Yeah, I'll briefly just say I really appreciate I think Jessica mentioned this and Al mentioned this. Obviously we've talked a lot about this and the importance of this. Um obviously finance is important piece of how we educate our children. Um and there's part that are absolute part that are relative and I think it's really important for us to um take proactive measures um to to ensure that we have um the fiscal stability to continue on the trajectory that we've demonstrated um over the last couple of years.
009uh we're making great progress and I think it's it's really important for us to ensure that we have stable funding to do that. So generally I'm really supportive. Um I will also just say that I again I think in the same way that Jessica mentioned that very appreciative of the district being responsive. I I think it's worth calling out that the community has really been um super engaged and I think that's really helpful at demonstrating that this is an initiative that is um I think important for the entire uh education community of Redwood City. And I'm just very glad that we have an engaged community that's all marching toward the same direction um in service of our kids. >> Well said. Thank you, Mike. >> Yeah, I'll uh I'll add in my thanks as well
010to you know everyone who helped bring the measure to this point. You know that staff, council, team civics, Jessica who spoke tonight and really all the community members who have organized in support of strong Redwood City Schools and of course their taxpayers who continue to invest in public education here. Um, for me the important thing is to really keep the focus on the need. Uh, it's about what our students need. It's about what our educators and staff need in order to do their work well and, you know, really what it takes to sustain the kind of schools our community wants for for its children. And Jessica mentioned it, but I really appreciate the community feedback that helped improve the language between the first and the second reading. Um, you know, that's exactly the kind of
011like public engagement, public forum. That's why we do first and second readings at public meetings. Uh it's great to see that sort of civic engagement going on. Um and having it all kind of work together. I think it would work really well. Um you know, and just for example, I think it matters when we, you know, take education jargon and explain it in plain English. You know, because even if a term like unduplicated pupil is technically defined in the law, it doesn't mean that it's clear, respectful language for families and community members. Um you know, and they they might be asking when we're asking them to understand uh and support this measure. Um, so I just again you really appreciate the engagement from the public and how the district listened and how it got folded
012back in. It's really really again what the public process is all about. Um, and and and finally I do want to express my sincere gratitude advance to the taxpayers of Redwood City School District. The community has repeatedly shown that it values strong public schools and I really don't take that support for granted. Um, grateful for the support our schools have received in the past and I also think it's important to be honest that the needs in this district remain real. Our responsibility tonight is really to make sure that we're putting forward something clear, accountable, and genuinely responsive to those needs. And I think I think we've done a good job of doing that. So, I I'm very much in support of passing the resolution tonight. >> Thank you so much, Mike. Yeah. Um I'd like
013to thank you Rick and Dr. Baker for coming up with a formula that really helps distribute it. It's such a complex thing to figure out how to get right. You know, you want to make sure every school site gets something, but you also want to have an equity lens on things. And just that balance of care of taking into account the number of pupils, the unduplicated unduplicated pupil count, and the the school site itself was was I think very very well done and respectful. The feedback that we got from the community where people were looking for a sense of concretenness like what is this going to do for a given school site? And I think what all of us in this room realize, but many people outside this room may not realize, is that these
014funds are for the general fund that can be used to fund salaries, that can be used to fund teachers and aids that are actually in the classroom. Um, not just buildings and the like that we've funded previously with with our bond measures. And so th this is really critical for delivering education because ultimately it's the human beings who are in the classroom that deliver an education to our students and that is our primary mission as a as a school district. I I really want to thank uh Jessica and Carlo who didn't speak tonight but is in the audience. Um as the intrepid leaders of our parent volunteer group, I also want to thank the parent volunteers who are here with us online or watching this recording. I know how hard you've been working to listen
015to the needs of the community, to be out there among your peers and the other parents in the district talking with them, hearing their concerns, helping to navigate that. That's a huge amount of work that uh that you've done to understand this measure and try and get it passed. And I just want you to know that it's not thankless. Like this is how a measure like this gets passed. So, thank you so much for that work and and thank you also for speaking up, El. Um, yeah. So, I'm I'm enthusiastic about educating our students and finding mechanisms of action to support the education of our students. That's why I'm here. It's why all of us are here. And this is uh this is a way that we get the resources to do that. Are there
016any other things that the board would like to discuss concerning this resolution? No. Okay. Well, would somebody like to make a motion to approve the resolution? >> I'll make a motion to approve the resolution. >> I'll second. >> And now we will go do a vote. >> Trusty Wells >> I. >> Trusty Lee >> I. >> Trusty King >> I. >> Vice President Marcus >> I. >> President Weekley >> I. The motion carries unanimously. Very well. Um I think that takes us to the end of our agenda. Uh 12 minutes after 13 minutes after beginning. Uh would somebody like to >> I'll move to >> I'll second. >> Um taking votes now. >> Busty Wells >> I. >> Busy Lee >> I. >> Vice President Marcus I. >> President Weekly I. >> The motion carries
017and with that I bid you a good night.