Mayor Jose Esteves gave his final State of the City summation a couple weeks back. It covered many of City of Milpitas' achievements during the past year. And it did look at a couple of looming problems. But noticeable by its absence was the gap in the thinking of the two elected bodies that serve the same set of constituents: the school board and the city council.

The essential differences are about money needed to remedy the school district's claim that there will not be enough school facilities in the areas that the city government has rezoned for more housing than anyone expected.

Much of the money is supposed to come from the developers who will be putting in the housing units. These take the form of "development fees" authorized by state law. There are different levels of such fees and that's where there is a difference of opinion.

A city report states that almost $29.4 million will be paid to Milpitas Unified School District by developers in the Midtown and Transit areas if the current "level one" developer fees apply. More than $38.2 million for local schools is forecast from the same residential communities if 30 percent higher "level two" fees are applied.

The school district says it needs upward of $50 million to offset increased enrollment from the new homes, leaving a funding gap of more than $10 million at "level two" development fees, and $20 million at the current fee schedule.

The city counters the school district's finger-pointing

by saying it should not be the scapegoat for lack of long-term planning by schools. And the city is correct when it asserts that the schools in the impacted area are not maxed out on space. They do have room to hold more kids now, and can carry additional students if more portables are installed.

No final decisions have been made, and both the school superintendent and the city manager are at work to resolve the issue this morning in a special meeting. If such a resolution can be accomplished at the professional staff level without getting it pushed into the political arena of elected officials, the entire community would be well served.

Understandably, developers don't want to pay any more than they have to and in the past some homebuilders have gone to court to get a lower payment. These are trickily worded regulations and sometimes it takes a third party to reconcile the dispute.

The bad news is that no one contemplated the changes in the housing market that have now pushed builders into more and more condos and high-density structures. Also because of market conditions hurting the rental or sale of industrial type buildings, owners have pushed to get such areas rezoned for housing. The city council has been responsive to these urgings.

Another factor is the general economy slowing down more home sales, which might cause delays in the projects that developers have in the pipeline. The time this can provide might lead to some creative solutions to the development fee gaps.

President Abe Lincoln warned that a "house divided cannot stand." The two elected bodies that represent Milpitas should not be adversaries. This school facility controversy needs to be settled amicably and with the common good as its goal.