October 5, 2006

OPINION

School Board president offers legal reasons why Caglia
property cannot be used for sports fields

By Rich Garcia,
President San Jose Unified School District Board of Education

San Jose Unified is not in a position to entertain the sale or lease of the Caglia property at this time.

We recognize that the refurbishment of the school fields as part of bond improvements creates a short-term impact on available field space for soccer teams in the Almaden area. For this reason, we will continue to work with the City to mitigate this short-term impact. Long term, our commitment is to create high quality refurbished fields that are safe for student use and meet the needs of the community. This commitment includes exploring options with the City to maximize the use of our fields in the Almaden area and particularly Leland High School.

Multiple factors regarding the proposed Caglia property transaction would compromise our commitment to providing the best possible educational opportunities for our 30,000 students in a fiscally responsible manner.

As background, since 1993, the San Jose Unified School District and the city of San Jose have thoroughly explored the feasibility, financially and legally, of using the Caglia fields for community use.

In 2001, a letter was sent to the director of the Almaden Youth Association explaining in detail how the Naylor Act could come into play if the Caglia property were to be used for recreational purposes. Under the Naylor Act, if the district wished to sell, or trade, the Caglia property after eight years of community use, it would be required to offer it to other public agencies at 25 percent of market value. This would result in reducing the property value by 75 percent. It would be difficult and costly to reclaim the Caglia property for educational purposes from the City after 7 ½ years of heavy City and community use. An agreement with the City at this time would seriously compromise the District’s ability to use the property as a financial asset.

As a Board of Education, we have concluded that our civic responsibility is to ensure there are adequate financial resources to educate and serve our student population, both now and in the future. The 77 acres of Caglia property are one of the best assets we have to ensure financial stability and protect the District from the impact of future student growth in the South Almaden Valley area. By law, the money generated from the sale of the property can only be used for capital projects.

The City currently recognizes the District’s school fields as meeting part of the City’s responsibility to provide community parks. The City and communities heavily use these school fields. By working with us to improve existing fields at Almaden school sites, including the installation of artificial turf, the availability of these fields for community use would be maximized year-round.

Should we decide to build a school on the Caglia property in the future, we would consider a joint use project with the City to develop the school’s fields for both school and community use.