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On Sept. 8, nearly 60 community members in Menlo Park gathered at Burgess Park to kick off the campaign for Menlo Park City School District’s Measure U, a $123.6 million bond that will fund facilities improvement projects across Encinal School, Laurel Elementary School, Oak Knoll Elementary School, and Hillview Middle School.
Volunteers included parents, high school students, district staff and community leaders. At Burgess Park, Menlo Park Vice Mayor Drew Combs and Superintendent Kristen Gracia made speeches before volunteers headed into the community to hang door tags onto local residents’ doors. Hillview Middle School art teacher Anna Kogan hosted a poster making station for kids and volunteers to make Measure U posters as well.
“This first phase of the campaign is all about just making people aware that Measure U will be on their ballot and giving them an overview of information about what Measure U is all about,” said Campaign Chair Katherine Bicer.
Volunteers spread out around the neighborhood to place door tags across approximately 7,000 homes within the school district. The door tags included information about Measure U and directed people to the campaign website for more information. Within one day, volunteers had tagged more than 1,100 homes, said Bicer.
The Measure U bond will be used to upgrade campus facilities including improvements to campus security, installing new HVAC units, upgrades in seismic safety, replacing 65-year-old buildings and modernizing learning technology, according to the campaign literature.
In a rebuttal against Measure U, President of the Silicon Valley Taxpayer Association Mark Hinkle argues that it would be inefficient to approve a bond measure that will accrue high interest rates when enrollment continues to decline and 20% of students are scoring below grade level standards in English and math.
Menlo Park Vice Mayor Drew Combs speaks to volunteers during Measure U rally on Sept. 8. Courtesy Jeff Schmidt. 
Hillview Middle School Art teacher Anna Kogan helps students make posters for Measure U during rally on Sept. 8. Courtesy Jeff Schmidt. 
Campaign Chair Katherine Bicer speaks to volunteers during Measure U rally on Sept. 8. Courtesy Jeff Schmidt.
“I do feel like this is going to be effective in alerting people that one of the important things on their ballot will be Measure U,” Bicer said.
The campaign team will also be hosting an event on Sept. 16 for parents and families of Laurel Elementary at The Neighborhood Pizza Guy at Cafe Zoe in Menlo Park. The event will be focused on informing the Laurel community about Measure U. Buildings at Laurel School’s lower campus are from 1959 and need to be taken down and rebuilt, according to the district.
On Oct. 4 and 5, the team is hosting a door knocking kick-off which will provide volunteers with the necessary materials and training on how to spread the word on Measure U to local residents.
“We have an awesome team of volunteers who put this together. … It’s amazing the talent we have in this town and what people are willing to do. My gratitude for that is so deep,” said Bicer.
Community members can visit safeschools4mp.org for more information on Measure U, endorsements and volunteer opportunities. Questions on the campaign can be emailed to info@safeschools4mp.org.
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
I have a question for the Menlo Park School District board. Where has all the previous money gone? Let me briefly outline what I mean.
A few years ago when the school district put a parcel tax on the ballot they indicated that among other reasons for the need for the partial tax was for school improvements and increasing enrollment. Shortly after this parcel Tech passed there were articles that enrollment is actually declining in the Menlo Park School Districts. Something that’s been seen with the reduced number of classes in the earlier grades. So the parcel tax is actually bringing in more money with less students.
Second it was recently reported that property tax revenue for the county of San Mateo in general has gone up almost 10% this calendar year. While I have not specifically looked at Menlo Park in Atherton I would imagine that they are around that same number. Since the school district gets a portion of that tax revenue that means that as in the past decade they are getting additional money each year
Apologies for any typos and I am happy to share the sources of my information. In fact I believe the article about revenue from property tax in the county was from the almanac, as were indicated enrollment in the school district has been dropping.
In addioion to the parcel tax there have been 3 bond measures passed, one in 1995, one in 2006 and one in 2013. These totaled about $136 million. So my question is where is the money going? We are payong off previous bonds, we are paying a parcel tax every year. Revenue from property tax is up (as it has been every year) and enrollment is down. This tells me a couple things. First the district should have plenty of money ( I didn’t mention the $2,000 per student that the one Community campaign asks each parent to donate) and second if they’re asking for this for classroom improvements where did the previous money go and what is everything being spent on? It seems to me there’s a black hole for money somewhere in the district that they’re not sharing with us. Until I get these questions answered I would definitely vote no on this measure.
Apologies for any typos and I am happy to share the sources of my information. In fact I believe the article about revenue from property tax in the county was from the almanac, as were indicated enrollment in the school district has been dropping.