Letter: Dear fellow Davis parents

Letter to the editor

Let us be direct: yes, Davis schools are the central reason we decided to start down this path to bring Village Farms Davis to voters. We won’t hide from that. We are proud of it.

About five years ago, we were informed of declining enrollment projections that would force tough decisions. The district was already bringing in more than 1,000 students from outside Davis, and the long-term forecast pointed down. Without significant new family housing, our schools would decline. Our families could help.

We’d been through this process before. We knew what we were signing up for. We did it anyway.

We spent five years working with city staff, commissions, environmental consultants and the community to design a project built for families: affordable and missing middle homes, parks, greenbelts, a neighborhood preschool and educational farm. Every decision was made with the same question in mind — what will attract and keep the next generation of young families?

Some have cynically pointed to the Tandem Foundation as evidence of a suspicious relationship between our families and the district. The Foundation was established 25 years ago and provides annual grants for teacher requests — supplies, classroom experiences, tools. The timeline alone disproves the claim.

The school board's public support for new housing is not a product of our influence. It's a product of their own enrollment data. They promote family-oriented housing regardless of who's building, because each new student helps. We can't control DJUSD's budgeting decisions, but we can do our part to help.

The Village Farms plan includes donations to the schools — that shouldn't cause suspicion. The original plan we brought to voters in 2005 also included a generous DJUSD land donation for a neighborhood preschool. There was no school crisis then, and no school-related messaging.

Our families have a long record of giving across many other causes, and have been building beloved Davis homes and neighborhoods (like Northstar) for 60 years.

That is the record. Please judge us by it.

Sandy Whitcombe & Doug Buzbee