Election 2026: San Mateo County voters to consider $848 million facilities bond Measure V

This November, San Mateo County voters will decide the fate of a $848 million bond to repair aging campus infrastructure at three local colleges.

If approved, Measure V would extend the San Mateo County Community College District’s existing bond tax rates to fund everything from aging roofs and flooring to leaking pipes to classroom technology upgrades. It would be the community college district’s fourth campus facilities bond since 2001.

At Canada College, the bond funds would be used to modernize the campus’s 50-year-old fine arts facility and construct additional student housing, while the College of San Mateo plans to use the funds to modernize the campus’s 60-year-old library and gymnasium, as well as classrooms to accommodate career technical education programs like fire technology and administrative justice.

Skyline College hopes to use the funds to construct student housing, modernize its 55-year-old visual performing arts building and build a new athletic center and wellness building.

The bond needs 55% of the vote to pass, and would levy approximately $18 per $100,000 assessed property value — about $75 million total annually. The community college district estimates that the total amount repayable during the life of the bond — which is expected to last until June 2049 — including principal and interest to be approximately $1.35 billion.

The measure is proposed as a bond extension, which would maintain the current tax rate structure property owners are already paying from previously approved bonds rather than increasing tax rates.

Supporters include the San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, San Mateo County Firefighters, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, San Mateo County Central Labor Council and former East Palo Alto Mayor Larry Moody.

Supporters of the measure say the locally controlled funds can’t be taken by the state or federal government, and the measure will protect an affordable college education, maintain job training and repair aging classrooms and labs.

“Local community colleges are the backbone of our economy, training the nurses who care for us, the firefighters who keep us safe and the skilled workers who power local industries,” said a joint statement in support of the measure. “For students seeking hands-on vocational training to land good-paying careers, these campuses are irreplaceable.”

But opponents, including the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, argue Measure V is the community college district’s fifth request for bond funds since 2001 and taxpayers have already given the district nearly $1.1 billion in funding for campus renovations.

Voters previously approved three other facility bond measures, including the $207 million Measure C in 2001 for major facility overhauls, safety updates and technology enhancements; the $468 million Measure A in 2005 to continue renovations, upgrade science and nursing labs and construct new facilities; and the $388 million Measure H in 2014 to modernize math and science classrooms, upgrade job facilities and replace aging infrastructure.

In 2011, voters rejected the $564 million Measure H, which would have further modernized facilities and labs, as well as increased earthquake and fire safety on the three campuses. The measure failed to meet the 55% approval threshold, only garnering 53% of voters support.

Opponents of Measure V say new campus construction is unnecessary amid declining enrollment and a surge of online learning.

And they argue the district’s claim that tax rates won’t increase is misleading.

“A new bond means new debt and decades of additional taxes. Think of your mortgage or car loan — if you added 30 years of payments but kept the monthly payment the same, would you say it cost you nothing?” opponents said in a joint statement against the measure. “More years of taxes mean more taxes paid.”

The proposed measure comes as voters’ appetite for school bonds seems to have decreased and the results of June’s school parcel taxes and bond measures could signal trouble for districts with tax proposals on the November ballot.

An EdSource analysis shows the June primary’s passage rate for school parcel tax measures fell below the state’s historic average of 65%, with only 53% of measures passing, while June school bond approval rates were 62% — far below the state’s historic average of 78%.

In the Bay Area, eight out of 15 parcel tax and bond measures failed to garner voter support, including Contra Costa Community College District’s Measure G, which asked voters to approve a $920 million school bond to update classrooms and repair outdated systems. The measure failed to get the necessary 55% majority, with only 50% of voters support.

However, Alameda County voters approved Peralta Community College District’s Measure A parcel tax, which is estimated to provide $8 million annually for nine years to fund community colleges in Alameda, Berkeley and Oakland. The measure received 87% of the vote — far above the necessary two-thirds majority.

If approved by voters, Measure V would require the district’s board of trustees to conduct an annual, independent performance audit to ensure that funds have only been spent on the projects outlined in the measure, as well as conduct an annual, independent financial audit of the proceeds from the bond sales. The community college district said funds will not be used for teacher and administrator salaries or any other operating expenses.

The board would also be required to establish and appoint members to an independent citizens’ oversight committee.

If Measure V is passed, the community college district said it anticipates that matching funds from the state could be available under Proposition 2, a $10 billion statewide bond that voters approved in 2024. In order to be eligible for matching state-funded grants, local school districts and community colleges typically must raise their own funds for campus facility projects. The amount of state funds districts get is generally based on how much they can raise on their own through local, property tax-based bond measures.

Registered California voters should soon see their ballots for the Nov. 3 election arriving in the mailbox. The last day to register to vote for the election is Oct. 19.