School District Bond Measure Fails

Despite getting more yeses than no's in the ballot box, Measure O, the $40 million bond measure for the San Bruno Park School District, failed to pass after getting only 50 percent of the votes, according to unofficial election results.

If passed, the construction bond would have been used to pay for capital projects throughout the district, including upgrading playgrounds and playfields, upgrading classroom technology and finishing the second phase of the Parkside Intermediate construction project.

The bond measure needed 55 percent of the vote to pass.

Now, school district officials will have to go back to the drawing board to find funding for the improvements they say are necessary for San Bruno schools. They will have an especially difficult task with the Parkside construction project, which is currently underway but lacks any secure funding for the second phase of construction planned.

Chuck Zelnik, one of the main opponents of the bond measure and a school board candidate—he didn't win in that race—said he was pleased with the results of the election because it serves as a wake-up call to the district.

"What it has shown is that, in the last two years, they've been so fixated on money that they've lost focus," Zelnik said. "That's why Belle Air has been in program improvement and that's why the whole district is now in PI. Maybe this is a message that they need to get back to educating kids." 

Here are the unofficial results of the race, as of 11:00 p.m. Tuesday, with all precincts reporting. In all, 3,719 ballots were cast out of 16,882 registered voters in the city.

San Bruno Park School District Measure O

Completed Precincts: 18 of 18

Measure

Votes

Percent

Yes

No