Approve Measure T, solve overcrowding for Mountain View

Mountain View Whisman School District officials face a challenge that is increasingly rare for Santa Clara County school districts.

Mountain View has added more than 7,000 housing units over the past five years. School enrollment is growing to a degree that school officials have put Measure T on the ballot to construct new classrooms and refurbish old ones.

The 30-year, $259 million bond measure would also help build 144 housing units — as part of a larger 716-unit development on West Middlefield Road — to alleviate housing costs for district staff. Finally, the bond measure would replace aging roofs and upgrade heating and ventilation systems for the district’s nine elementary schools and two middle schools that serve 5,344 students.

Mountain View Whisman voters should approve Measure T on the March 3 ballot.

To pay off the bonds, Measure T would add $30 per $100,000 of assessed value to district property owners’ annual tax bill, or $239 for an average home assessed at $798,796.

District homeowners already pay taxes to retire bonds previously approved by voters when they passed Measure G in 2012. Separately, Mountain View property owners make payments on Measure A bonds, approved in 1998, and Whisman property owners are taxed for payments on Measure C bonds, approved in 1996. Those measures preceded the 2001 merger of the two school districts. Measure A bonds will be paid off in 2024, and Measure C bonds will be retired in 2025.

If Measure G passes, Mountain View homeowners in 2020 would pay an estimated $554 for school bond debt, and Whisman homeowners would pay an estimated $705.

The district anticipates that enrollment will grow by 2,500 students by 2040, likely requiring construction of two new elementary schools. School officials are working on a long-term plan to address the issue. They say that Measure T bonds would not be used to build new schools.

The Mountain View Whisman district needs the funding to address its current growth issues and help house teachers. Voters should approve Measure T.