Dear Santa Clara County Supervisors,
I’m a member of the board of trustees for Santa Clara Unified School District. The comments below are from me as a member of the community, and from me only.
An appeals panel from the Santa Clara County Assessor’s office recently approved a reduction in property taxes for the San Francisco 49ers. This action has great financial repercussions for a number of entities, most importantly the students and families of Santa Clara Unified School District.
It’s obvious the assessors’ office can take this action. I understand the 49ers are simply doing what private businesses do; make and keep profits.
My question to you is not whether this was properly done, my question to you is; should this be done?
Santa Clara Unified has title 1 schools where students come to school hungry. Our entire staff, from bus drivers to teachers, take great care of our kids yet many struggle to make rent. We are striving to update our 50 year old schools and build new ones to meet population growth. We do not have a surplus of un-needed funds; our students deserve everything we can provide for them.
Some people are giving perfectly reasonable explanations why millions should be taken away from our students and staff and enrich the 49ers. Under what circumstances is this acceptable? As a community we are measured by how we treat our children. Shouldn’t they be given the highest priority?
I hope you will help.
Respectfully,
Mark Richardson
[…] Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) Trustee Mark Richardson wrote an oped this week. It’s about Assessor Larry Stone losing an assessment appeal to the 49ers. That loss will cut the team’s taxes in half ($240 million over 40 years) and take money mostly from SCU…. […]