How we manage our district's money really matters

By Robert N. "Bob" Miller

I have worked hard to see that our kids get the highest quality education opportunity possible and that our tax paying citizens get the best possible "bang for our education buck".

Our property taxes only cover about 70% of our budget. The rest comes from various sources such as the State (21%), The federal Government (2%), State lottery (less than 2%). and miscellaneous other sources such as earned interest, donations and grants(5%). Our voters have emphatically said "NO" to parcell taxes so that is not an option. It is up to the management team (the Board members and the administrative staff), then to be innovative and persistant in our efforts to find the money we need.

Partly because of my business background, District finance has been one of my areas of emphasis. Some of my contributions to our school district's economic health are as follows.

When BART condemned and demolished the Garden Lane and Aviador Apartments, displacing 144 of our students, the District suffered an annual loss of about $600,000 in State funding. I was able to pursuade Assemblyman Lou Papan to carry a bill to help compensate for the loss. He won legislative approval but the Governor vetoed our appropriation. This happened 3 years in a row. After the third veto, with some heavy duty lobbying by me, Assemblyman Papan and Trustee Caroline Shea, I was able to gain the Governor's approval for $475,000 in one time money; money we desperately needed.

Due to declining enrollment, our District has surplus class-room space which we rent to private providors (Pre-schools, child care centers and private schools). Again, my business man's curiosity led me to examine these Leases. I found rents to be well below fair market rates. Some space was even being occupied rent-free. The lease provisions were inadequate, inconsistant and poorly drafted. With the help of our Chief Business Official we re-negotiated the rents and other terms of the Leases so that they are now legally adequate and fiscally fair, therby increasing the annual income to the Millbrae School District by more than $155,000.

We must continue to be innovative and alert to opportunities which will allow us to augment our budget so that we can continue to offer the finest eduaction opportunity to our children without resorting to Parcel Taxes and Bond Issues. If re-elected I will continue to pro-actively seek solutions to our Districts fiscal and business challenges.