Save Regnart: Legal Defense Fund
Donation protected
Please donate to our legal defense fund to keep Regnart Elementary OPEN!
Our attorney has determined that the Cupertino Union School District’s decision to close Regnart is illegal. We need your support to help our legal efforts succeed.
- It is inhumane to force school closures on children and families in a pandemic, when mental health is at an all-time low
- It is unjust to cut one school down, in order to help another succeed. CUSD sabotaged Regnart’s enrollment and cut off its resources. As it tries to close Regnart, it will simultaneously fund a $13M renovation of Blue Hills Elementary in Saratoga, as well as an expansion of the Chinese Language Immersion Program (CLIP) to a new campus at Muir.
- It is unlawful to close Regnart. Details on CUSD's violations will be disclosed soon. The attorney has confirmed we have a strong case to challenge the district.
Regnart Elementary is a beloved community school with over 60 years of history. It is one of the last tributes to an original founding family of Cupertino. Anna G. Regnart, wife of William Regnart’s son Herbert, sold the land for Regnart Elementary to CUSD in 1959.
Please donate to help save our historic school, our community, and the strength of the public school system.
The following community leaders & organizations support Saving Regnart:
Cupertino Vice-Mayor Liang-Fang Chao
Congressional Candidate Ritesh Tandon
Former CUSD Board Member Kristen Pan Lyn
Cupertino Planning Commissioner Vikram Saxena
Cupertino Parks & Recreation Commissioner Xiangchen Xu
Recall CUSD Board
A Story of Injustice
In 2019, CUSD began its crusade to close schools. At the time, Regnart had a healthy enrollment of over 400 students. Many were shocked that it was targeted. The Regnart PTA pushed back, raising over $100k to help cover Regnart program costs. They also proposed turning Regnart into a magnet school to make it even more successful.
After significant public pushback that lasted through 2020, the CUSD School Board postponed closures. Trustee Lori Cunningham told parents if Measure A passed in 2021, there would be a chance to keep schools open. Parents threw their energy into campaigning for Measure A. However, Measure A proposed parcel taxes of $395/year for 8 years. This was a 3X increase in cost from 2020’s failed Measure O, which proposed $125/year for 5 years. Trustee Lori Cunningham publicly admitted there was no community support for Measure A, even as she voted to spend $1M on the special election. Measure A did not pass.
What we didn’t know: as we were fighting to save Regnart, CUSD was sabotaging Regnart enrollment. Over the past two years, CUSD waitlisted 100 open enrollment students applying for Regnart – and accepted only one. Meanwhile, CUSD used open enrollment to bolster its “pet” schools. For example, Montclaire (a small school in Trustee Lori Cunningham’s neighborhood) received an entire kindergarten class through open enrollment. Blue Hills (an even smaller school in Trustee Phyllis Vogel’s neighborhood) topped off its kindergarten and 1st grade classes with open enrollment. When confronted about this issue, Yao has no good answer.
Fortunately, by September 2021, CUSD’s financial situation had dramatically improved. Its ending fund balance rose to $42M, the best in decades. And with the rise in property tax revenue, it becomes a “Basic Aid” district this year, further increasing funding per pupil. This means enrollment no longer impacts the amount of funding CUSD receives – it is funded by local property tax revenue, rather than state dollars per student.
Despite CUSD's strong financial position, Superintendent Stacy Yao, Trustee Lori Cunningham, Trustee Phyllis Vogel, and Trustee Sylvia Leong remained dead set on closing schools. Stacy Yao insisted closures were necessary for “budget sustainability” reasons.
After extensive lobbying by the Regnart PTA, Stacy Yao promised us that “Regnart would be safe”. The Regnart families were relieved, and took a well-deserved respite from saving their school.
But in September 2021, Yao left the community stunned by announcing a proposal for Regnart to close, along with Meyerholz and Muir. There was no time to weigh in. The decision was unilateral, and approved within just three weeks on October 14th. Protests, emails, public comments, and all other community input was ignored.
In our investigation, we have learned that there is high demand to attend Regnart. If more students had simply been accepted, rather than waitlisted, Regnart would be a healthy-sized school rather than a target for closure.
The way forward for Regnart is clear:
- Reopen Regnart and let enrollment recover from the pandemic (~10 students/year)
- Start accepting open enrollment students again (15-20 students/year)
- Reinstate TK at Regnart (20-24 students/year)
- Start preschool (Cuperdoodle) at Regnart (20-24 students/year)
With these steps, we can quickly restore Regnart enrollment back up to 400 students per year, within 2 years.
Please donate to our Save Regnart fund to keep Regnart OPEN for generations to come -- and share it with friends and family. All proceeds will go towards legal efforts.
Our attorney has determined that the Cupertino Union School District’s decision to close Regnart is illegal. We need your support to help our legal efforts succeed.
- It is inhumane to force school closures on children and families in a pandemic, when mental health is at an all-time low
- It is unjust to cut one school down, in order to help another succeed. CUSD sabotaged Regnart’s enrollment and cut off its resources. As it tries to close Regnart, it will simultaneously fund a $13M renovation of Blue Hills Elementary in Saratoga, as well as an expansion of the Chinese Language Immersion Program (CLIP) to a new campus at Muir.
- It is unlawful to close Regnart. Details on CUSD's violations will be disclosed soon. The attorney has confirmed we have a strong case to challenge the district.
Regnart Elementary is a beloved community school with over 60 years of history. It is one of the last tributes to an original founding family of Cupertino. Anna G. Regnart, wife of William Regnart’s son Herbert, sold the land for Regnart Elementary to CUSD in 1959.
Please donate to help save our historic school, our community, and the strength of the public school system.
The following community leaders & organizations support Saving Regnart:
Cupertino Vice-Mayor Liang-Fang Chao
Congressional Candidate Ritesh Tandon
Former CUSD Board Member Kristen Pan Lyn
Cupertino Planning Commissioner Vikram Saxena
Cupertino Parks & Recreation Commissioner Xiangchen Xu
Recall CUSD Board
A Story of Injustice
In 2019, CUSD began its crusade to close schools. At the time, Regnart had a healthy enrollment of over 400 students. Many were shocked that it was targeted. The Regnart PTA pushed back, raising over $100k to help cover Regnart program costs. They also proposed turning Regnart into a magnet school to make it even more successful.
After significant public pushback that lasted through 2020, the CUSD School Board postponed closures. Trustee Lori Cunningham told parents if Measure A passed in 2021, there would be a chance to keep schools open. Parents threw their energy into campaigning for Measure A. However, Measure A proposed parcel taxes of $395/year for 8 years. This was a 3X increase in cost from 2020’s failed Measure O, which proposed $125/year for 5 years. Trustee Lori Cunningham publicly admitted there was no community support for Measure A, even as she voted to spend $1M on the special election. Measure A did not pass.
What we didn’t know: as we were fighting to save Regnart, CUSD was sabotaging Regnart enrollment. Over the past two years, CUSD waitlisted 100 open enrollment students applying for Regnart – and accepted only one. Meanwhile, CUSD used open enrollment to bolster its “pet” schools. For example, Montclaire (a small school in Trustee Lori Cunningham’s neighborhood) received an entire kindergarten class through open enrollment. Blue Hills (an even smaller school in Trustee Phyllis Vogel’s neighborhood) topped off its kindergarten and 1st grade classes with open enrollment. When confronted about this issue, Yao has no good answer.
Fortunately, by September 2021, CUSD’s financial situation had dramatically improved. Its ending fund balance rose to $42M, the best in decades. And with the rise in property tax revenue, it becomes a “Basic Aid” district this year, further increasing funding per pupil. This means enrollment no longer impacts the amount of funding CUSD receives – it is funded by local property tax revenue, rather than state dollars per student.
Despite CUSD's strong financial position, Superintendent Stacy Yao, Trustee Lori Cunningham, Trustee Phyllis Vogel, and Trustee Sylvia Leong remained dead set on closing schools. Stacy Yao insisted closures were necessary for “budget sustainability” reasons.
After extensive lobbying by the Regnart PTA, Stacy Yao promised us that “Regnart would be safe”. The Regnart families were relieved, and took a well-deserved respite from saving their school.
But in September 2021, Yao left the community stunned by announcing a proposal for Regnart to close, along with Meyerholz and Muir. There was no time to weigh in. The decision was unilateral, and approved within just three weeks on October 14th. Protests, emails, public comments, and all other community input was ignored.
In our investigation, we have learned that there is high demand to attend Regnart. If more students had simply been accepted, rather than waitlisted, Regnart would be a healthy-sized school rather than a target for closure.
The way forward for Regnart is clear:
- Reopen Regnart and let enrollment recover from the pandemic (~10 students/year)
- Start accepting open enrollment students again (15-20 students/year)
- Reinstate TK at Regnart (20-24 students/year)
- Start preschool (Cuperdoodle) at Regnart (20-24 students/year)
With these steps, we can quickly restore Regnart enrollment back up to 400 students per year, within 2 years.
Please donate to our Save Regnart fund to keep Regnart OPEN for generations to come -- and share it with friends and family. All proceeds will go towards legal efforts.
Organizer and beneficiary
Save CUSD Schools
Organizer
Cupertino, CA
Frances Hu
Beneficiary
