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RCSD Trustees told us that if they had more money, they would use it to retain quality teachers, Boy Scout honors.
In 2026, RCSD put Measure C on the June ballot to raise $12.2M per year for local elementary schools. Public Education is supposed to be free, but RCSD thought a few hundred dollars per household wouldn’t increase the cost of living that much. And besides… it was all for the children… and for the teachers, of course.
Would Measure C really go to the children and the teachers?
Five colors give us all the answers we need.
Dark Green and the Legal Minimum
Let’s look at Dark Green. That is the amount of funding the district is spending on quality classroom education. Now look at the green line at the 60% level. That is the legally required minimum spending for classroom teachers, current law in California.
That line is the minimum. Superintendents and trustees who really care about students are allowed, and even encouraged, to go above that marker. In fact, districts with more SPED (special education) or SED (socioeconomically disadvantaged) students would almost certainly be above that dark green line, since the cost of educating these students is usually higher. Federal funding is usually tied to Dark Green.
RCSD is getting an F on Dark Green
Dark Green looks very sick. Dark Green has been trending down hard. Dark Green has been trending for a long time despite all the promises.
Dark Green is all about teacher salaries, class sizes, and quality education. Even back in 2004, RCSD didn’t really care about teachers, students, or education, but year after year it has gotten worse. That is what a structural problem looks like. That shows unethical leadership – remember, law starts with being above the green line.
For years, the district has been claiming that RCSD is poor because they spend so much on SPED and SED children.
Dark Green exposes that lie.
The opposite happened: the more SPED and SED students the district had, the faster education spending went down. Even in 2004, RCSD was already 10 points below the legal minimum. By 2025, the difference widened to over 20 percentage points.
What does that mean for Measure C?
Dark Green proves that Measure C funding was never meant to hire and retain quality teachers.
Dark Green exposes that lie too.
Dark Blue and Cheap Labor
Dark Blue is a special case. Dark Blue could be a sign of good or very bad.
If Dark Green touches the green line, Dark Blue would show us a district that cares. It would show the district goes out of its way to add classroom educators. In that case, Dark Blue would be a solid investment.
If Dark Green stays below the green line, Dark Blue changes. In that case, Dark Blue shows a district is using cheaper labor to replace certificated classroom teachers. Dark Blue becomes an ethical liability.
RCSD is getting an F on Dark Blue
In RCSD’s case, Dark Blue exposes an ethical liability.
Clearly, RCSD has been replacing certificated educators with uncertificated, cheaper labor. That doesn’t look good for the district office and the Trustees. And it’s especially bad for the students.
It’s an ethical nightmare for former superintendent John Baker, who is violating established education code. It also reflects badly on the California Teacher Association (CTA) and the Redwood City Teacher Association (RCTA) for not making sure the laws are enforced.
This district seems to lack knowledge of education, the law, and math.
Bright Yellow and the Napkins
Bright Yellow looks quite big. Bright Yellow is books, paper, pens, pencils – you name it.
A large Bright Yellow means the district has no problem supporting its teachers with materials. There should be plenty of napkins and glue sticks for everyone. However, Bright Yellow also pays for certain third-party bills.
RCSD is getting an F on Bright Yellow
RCSD’s Bright Yellow looks quite overweight. Classrooms must be swimming in napkins and pencils. Tech must be everywhere. Science labs must have chemicals you have never heard of. But if your teacher is handing parents a list of materials they urgently need for their classroom, something is wrong with Bright Yellow. RCSD is certainly spending enough here, even overspending. But the money doesn’t seem to go where parents would want it to go. Bright Yellow is also the color of certain third-party bills. Maybe someone is doing someone else a favor and overspending on third-party things that aren’t really needed?
Light Orange and the Real Estate
If we have to look for “good” or “bad” administration, Light Orange spending would be on the “better” side.
It should, however, never meander below the green line. That would mean school site administrators have replaced educators. If you have classrooms that are too large (>20), you need an army of counselors to fix this (large orange area) for teachers and students.
RCSD is getting an F on Orange
Light Orange looks very heavy for RCSD. Light Orange looks outright obese. That is because RCSD runs too many schools. They also own too many buildings. RCSD runs an institute of education like a real estate empire.
Here are the numbers:
- 7 – All students would fit into seven K-8 neighborhood schools.
- 12 – The district is wasting $40-$50M on 5 “gimmick schools” (this is the TIDE Academy problem – this is why “gimmick schools” must go).
If you overextend yourself by constantly adding “gimmick schools”, your Bright Yellow and Light Orange might look big, but parents will still be asked to bring glue sticks to Kindergarten.
“Teacher Coaches” might also be booked into this sector. And which burned-out teacher wouldn’t happily take advice from another burn-out victim on “how to work smarter, not harder“?
[Hint: More professional districts, of course, would hire more teachers, reduce class sizes, and avoid burnout syndrome altogether. This is also why their Dark Green looks much better.]
Dark Red and Mismanagement
Dark Red is the real problem. Dark Red is the big downtown office.
A California Prop is currently on the ballot to ensure that 10% of health care funding goes to administrators and 90% goes to real healthcare providers. Dark Red should also be below 10%, since most of what the district does is already handled at the state, county, or school-site level. In education, Dark Red is the proverbial middleman who adds nothing, but rakes in all the profits.
But it gets worse from there. In school districts, those administrative costs are hidden inside Dark Red, Light Orange, and Bright Yellow.
A bloated Dark Red most likely points to voters approving some bond measure. This leads to instant mismanagement, as administration of such bonds requires 50-100 more employees in administration, finance, facilities, building maintenance, and HR. Bond measures always move funding from Dark Green towards Dark Red – always.
Approve a bond measure and teacher positions will be cut. Dark Red goes up as Dark Green goes down.
RCSD is getting an F on Dark Red
Dark Red shows RCSD is one of the most bloated, most obese school districts in the Bay Area. It’s also one of the richest. But the district office isn’t spreading the wealth around – downtown is consuming the biggest piece of the pie. RCSD has administrative diabetes type 2 and type 3. Type 2 is when a district has become resistant to professional leadership. Type 3 is when trustees forget how their job is supposed to benefit children. Either way, the district is way too fat around the hips – fat is, in fact, all over its inner organs.
The Tide Academy Saga shows that one small gimmick school can easily cost more than $8M. But Redwood City has 5 to 6 much larger gimmick schools that cost an additional $50 or $60 million and probably more.
The very oversized Dark Red, Light Orange, Bright Yellow, and Dark Blue are showing the wasteful spending.
RCSD is addicted to Gimmick Schools
Dark Red is what’s wrong with RCSD. Dark Red shows a district addicted to gimmick schools.
Over the last 30 years, RCSD has promised several times that more money would go to Dark Green. In 2019, they promised that closing four cheap, low-income neighborhood schools would fix the budget.
But Superintendent John Baker was misleading parents. Dark Green went down even faster. Dark Red got even more bloated.
Why?
Because John Baker didn’t fix his real problem – running five expensive gimmick schools. Dark Red stands for gimmick schools.
RCSD is preparing to repeat that mistake – they want to close more low-income schools. This cannot work either – Dark Red will just be violating the law even more.
More Information
- ED-data.org: Redwood City Elementary SD
- RCSD did find money to raise administrator salaries – no Measure C needed
- RCSD is planning their next attack on low-income schools
Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in all blog posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Redwood City Pulse or its staff.
