FAYETTEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL: Survey Results Inspiring

PRICE TAG BIGGEST REASON FOR VOTING TAX DOWN

By BRENDA BLAGG

Posted: November 8, 2009 at 4:27 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — How’s this for public participation?

Of the more than 10,000 Fayetteville school patrons who voted in a Sept. 5 millage election, more than 6,000 have told school officials why they voted as they did.

All participating voters were invited to do so through an anonymous postcard survey by the school district. It is important that so many responded but every bit as important that the district asked.

Better communication is a must for the district and for its patrons, who turned out in record numbers for that vote.

Remember, they trounced a districtproposed 4.9-mill increase in property taxes that would have gone to finance a new high school where the existing one sits in the city.

Scarcely a month out from the election, Fayetteville Superintendent Vicki Thomas mailed surveys to those who had voted in that pivotal election.

They were asked to return a postage-paid postcard ranking the three most compelling reasons for their votes.

The postcard offered a list of possible reasons why people might have voted either way as well as an open-ended opportunity to comment.

Comment they did, according to Thomas, who said their thoughts created “a good piece of planning data” for the district’s leaders. The numbers do, too, although the responses came lopsidedly from those who voted against the tax.

Of survey respondents, 4,500-plus voted against the ballot issue and about 1,500 for it. That’s more than 71 percent of the total “against” voters and about 6 percent of “for” voters.

District leaders will need to keep that fact in mind, too, as they chew on what these vocal voters have told them. The district must also keep looking for ways to communicate with the rest of its patrons.

In what is considered an excellent return for a mail survey, six out of 10 actual voters responded. But the district doesn’t know how four out of 10 made their decisions in that election.

The survey was nonetheless a good idea and gave the participating voters another buy-in to future decisions regarding the high school - which could come sooner rather than later.

For the record, this “high” return on the survey looks much smaller when measured against the numbers of people who could have been involved in the decision-making.

The election turnout was a record for a special school election, but that “record” involved only about one in four of the eligible voters.

So goes the electoral process. Those who participate in electionsmake the decisions.

And, in Fayetteville, on that particular day in September, 10,054 decided for all.

Their vote was a resounding defeat, with 6,382 “against” and 3,672 “for” the measure which would have raised the school millage rate for Fayetteville patrons to a total of 47.8 mills, the second highest rate in all of Arkansas.

It was a lot to ask for and more than voters were willing to give.

According to these postelection survey results, it was the $113 million price tag for the new high school that was the most compelling reason cited by respondents for voting the tax down.

No surprise there. Even those who supported the project recognized that it was an expensive proposition. But, coming as it did in a time of economic uncertainty, there was little appetite for long-range investment in the schools.

In these times, people are desperately trying to reduce what they spend.

Given the chance, most were sure to reject higher taxes.

The survey said a walloping 39 percent cited the price as the top reason for voting against the high school project. Another 22 percent were against it because of the impact on their property taxes. Yet another 11 percent had a problem with building one new high school rather than adding a second high school. Others had different reasons for their “no” votes, but those were the ones that stood out.

Among those who voted for the tax proposal, more than one in three cited the quality of the current facility as their most compelling reason.

That’s also the most compelling reason for Fayetteville School District to keep this communication going.

Fayetteville’s need for a better high school is real and there are plans afoot to renovate the existing facility.

Federal stimulus credits that became available to the district after that Sept. 5 vote will enable the district to sell construction bonds to buyers who will get tax credits instead of interest on the bonds.

As of yet undetermined is how the district will spend this bond money and how it will pay back.

But the district is clearly - and correctly - listening for guidance from its patrons.

BRENDA BLAGG IS REGIONAL EDITOR AND COVERS GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS.

COMMENTARY

Opinion, Pages 9 on 11/08/2009

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