Letter to Voters about Measure I - By Yes I Can Commitee

Dear Sausalito Marin City School District Voter:

This is the moment!

This election the voters of the Sausalito Marin City School District will be asked to make an important decision. Measure I is a proposed $15 million construction bond that allows for the building of a new middle school, the replacement of our substandard K-2 portables with a new permanent building, and modernization of all other buildings to safety and ADA standards, as required by state law. The passage of this measure will make a big change for our small district, affecting all three of our schools: Bayside Elementary, Willow Creek Academy, and MLK Academy. It will ensure that we can provide adequate after-school child care facilities as well. Most importantly, it will help in the success of Vision 900, which is our program to make our district equal or better than other high achieving districts in Marin County.

This is the first school bond measure put before the voters of this district since 1930. That’s an incredible fact when one considers that in the past ten years every other Marin County school district has passed one or more bond measures to improve and expand their schools.

After many years of struggle our district is at last making the kind of progress that has long been sought by hoped for by the community. In the last three years we have doubled our academic test scores and, in 2003, Bayside Elementary, was recognized as the second most improved school in all of California.

On average, homeowners will see an increase of approximately $100 on their annual tax bill if this measure is passed. Besides the wonderful benefits improved school facilities will create for our community’s children, your support of this measure is a wise investment. Increased home values, as reported in the Marin Independent Journal, have followed school bond measures in Kentfield, Corte Madera, Tiburon, Mill Valley and elsewhere in Marin.

Beyond this fact, it is common knowledge that our district has long suffered the loss of young families who exit our community when their children complete pre-school and begin their primary education. This flight of young families has given us the oldest median age of any community in Marin.

This is the moment. Let’s stay on the road that we are on today: Creating an effective charter school in Willow Creek, continuing to improve our academic standing at Bayside Elementary and creating a newly renovated middle school so badly needed by our older children.

Join us at upcoming community forums or call directly to 332-4197 for more information. Vote for Measure I on November 2nd and prove that ours is a community where equal opportunity means excellence in education for all.