San Carlos School District • Measure K • November 3, 2026
San Carlos schools depend on local funding. Measure K renews and updates the parcel tax that pays for teachers, small classes, and programs. Here it is in plain language.
$489
per parcel, per year
$40.75
about, per month
≈ $4.4M
per year for our schools
8 years
maximum, starting July 2027
The Short Version
State funding covers roughly 75% of what SCSD needs. The rest is local — parcel taxes, SCEF grants, and other community giving.
Measure N ($334.60) has stayed flat while costs rose. SCSD reports it now funds 25% fewer teachers than when it started.
$489 per parcel a year for up to eight years, locally controlled, with seniors exempt and an oversight committee watching.
Why Neighbors Differ
The State sets a target amount every district is entitled to receive for its students. If local property taxes fall short of that target, the State fills the gap — that district is "LCFF-funded." If local property taxes come in above the target, the district keeps the extra and the State steps back — that district is "Community Funded," sometimes called "basic aid." San Carlos is the first kind. Hillsborough is the second.
Comparison is descriptive. Hillsborough families also pay a much larger parcel tax on top of their property taxes — being Community Funded does not remove the need for local support. Figures for San Carlos come from district and San Mateo County election documents.
The Crossover Question
Yes. SCSD's funding status is evaluated annually.
San Carlos does not permanently belong in one category. Whether SCSD is LCFF-funded or Community Funded depends on the relationship between its calculated LCFF entitlement and the local property-tax revenue allocated to the district.
SCSD's allocated property-tax revenue
<SCSD's calculated LCFF entitlement
The State fills the difference
LCFF Funded
SCSD's allocated property-tax revenue
>SCSD's calculated LCFF entitlement
SCSD retains property-tax revenue above the threshold
Community Funded
Because of factors including:
Based on factors including:
When SCSD's applicable local property-tax revenue exceeds its LCFF entitlement, the district becomes Community Funded. Becoming Community Funded is not a decision the School Board makes — it results from the annual funding calculation.
Sources: SCSD — School Funding; California Department of Education — LCFF Overview.
Local Funding Stack
San Carlos schools have three main funding layers: state LCFF money, the voter-approved parcel tax, and the San Carlos Education Foundation (SCEF). They are not the same thing, and one does not replace the other.
The state sets an entitlement for every district and backfills what local property taxes do not cover. For SCSD, this is the largest share of the budget, but it is only enough for a baseline program.
Measure N today, Measure K proposed. This is voter-approved, locally controlled money the district can count on for a fixed term. It pays for core staffing and programs: teachers, small classes, reading, math, science, and the day-to-day operations of every school.
An independent 501(c)(3) parent-led nonprofit. SCEF grants over $3 million annually to SCSD for music, art, PE, libraries, and other well-rounded education programs that state baseline funding does not cover.
The parcel tax protects the teachers, class sizes, and daily programs that make enrichment possible. SCEF adds the art, music, PE, library, and other programs that make a San Carlos education well-rounded. Neither can fully replace the other.
Your Questions
Your property-tax bill doesn't go to one place. The basic 1% is split among the county, the city, our elementary district, the high school district, the community college, and more. SCSD gets only a small slice — and those shares were set decades ago, after Proposition 13.
Not today. As an LCFF-funded district, SCSD receives a state-set entitlement (about $33.8M in 2024–25), and more property tax mostly swaps state dollars for local ones. See "Two ways California funds a school district" above.
Because a parcel tax works differently. It isn't part of the 1% property tax the State counts. It goes straight to SCSD as additional, locally controlled money that Sacramento cannot take away or offset.
People, mostly. Salaries and benefits are about 82% of the district budget, so school funding is really a question of how many teachers, counselors and specialists are in our buildings with kids.
Measure N expires in June 2028. Without a renewal, that roughly $3M a year goes away, and the district would have to close the gap — which, given that staffing is most of the budget, means fewer adults supporting students.
Where It Goes
Attract and keep experienced educators and staff.
Maintain small class sizes.
Science, tech, math, reading and writing.
Hands-on science, math and tech programs.
Keep our school libraries open.
Art, music and well-rounded programs.
Measure K funds cannot be used for administrators' salaries or pensions.
The Cost
Today — Measure N
$334.60
per parcel, per year
≈ $27.88 / month
Measure K
$489
per parcel, per year
$40.75 / month
The increase
+$154.40
per parcel, per year
≈ +$12.87 / month
Measure K is a flat amount per taxable parcel — not a percentage of your home's value. It would begin July 1, 2027, run no more than eight years, and adjust annually for cost of living as specified in the measure.
Where I Stand
I support Measure K because maintaining strong schools requires both investment and responsible stewardship.
Our educators and staff are at the heart of our schools. I want San Carlos to continue attracting and retaining great educators, maintaining strong academics, keeping class sizes manageable, and providing the programs that give our children a well-rounded education.
At the same time, asking our community for additional funding comes with a responsibility to use those dollars thoughtfully and transparently. As a board member, I would bring my experience managing significant budgets and making difficult tradeoffs to protect what matters most in the classroom while planning responsibly for the future.
Supporting Measure K should not mean writing a blank check. It should mean investing in our schools while demanding transparency, accountability, and responsible stewardship.
