Results of second public opinion poll satisfy CVUSD board
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Survey: 65 percent say they’d support $197-million bond
With the news that likely voters would probably support a school bond similar to the one it hopes to pass in November, Conejo Valley Unified School District will move forward with drafting a ballot proposal.
At its May 6 meeting, the CVUSD board received results of a survey conducted April 23 to 28 to gauge support of a proposed $197-million school bond that would be used to update classroom technology and network infrastructure; modernize, maintain and repair aging schools; upgrade science and career training labs; and improve school safety and security.
Of 404 district voters surveyed, out of 56,266 likely voters in the November election, 62.1 percent said they would support such a bond. After being given some information about the bond, that number went up to 65.2 percent.
“The final ballot test shows statistically significant growth in support since last year . . . leading to the final conclusion that, really, information does substantially increase support,” said Brian Godbe, president of Godbe Research, which conducted the survey.
Though there was no formal vote to move ahead with existing plans for the measure, as it was included as part of a vote at the previous board meeting, board members did have the opportunity to discuss the survey.
“I am very encouraged by the numbers,” said board member Betsy Connolly. “But I’m also confident we’re ready and that we’ve done due diligence. . . . I don’t think we’d be getting ahead of ourselves by taking the next step.”
The survey, at a cost of $19,950, was meant to gauge likely support before the district sinks time, money and manpower into creating a ballot proposal and rallying volunteers to help pass it. Its margin of error was 4.9 percent.
In an earlier survey, taken in June of last year, 55 percent of those asked—exactly the percentage of voters necessary for passage—said they’d likely vote for the bond, but proposed terms and other factors have changed since then.
Other objectives for the most recent survey included gauging the public’s perceptions of the district’s job in educating students, prioritizing projects and programs to be funded by the bond and assessing voters’ opinions when given more information regarding a potential measure.
In the course of the 15-minute phone interviews, Godbe Research found 66.5 percent of respondents thought CVUSD provides a quality education. This number was down slightly from 67.8 percent in the 2013 survey.
The recent survey reported 57 percent of those interviewed agreed the district needs additional funding, up 4.1 percent from last year’s results.
Godbe also found that every proposed use for the funds garnered support. The highest rated features included repairing and replacing infrastructure, modernizing schools and upgrading science, math and career preparatory labs. But even the lowest scoring use, improving school safety and security, generated positive responses.
Finally, when asked if they’d support a bond if there were no increase in tax rate, the number of respondents answering “definitely yes” or “probably yes” rose to 66 percent.
Answering questions by board member Mike Dunn about how it would be possible to not increase the tax rate while simultaneously paying off existing Measure R bonds (which won’t be paid off until 2019) and spending new bond money as early as next year, Superintendent Jeff Baarstad said it’s in the structuring of the new bonds.
If the new bond proposal does not pass, when the Measure R bonds are paid off in 2019 the tax associated with it—about $32.70 per $100,000 of assessed value—will go away. If the new bond measure passes, that tax rate would continue for an additional 20 years beyond 2019.
In the meantime, the district could start using the money from the first of four bond issues due to the type of bond they’ll be.
“It’s something called a short-term capital appreciation bond,” Baarstad said. “The investor will not receive principle or interest payment until the bond is fully matured, and then we pay the full interest and principle, probably in a 2020 or 2021 time frame.”
The next step will be for trustees to review a draft of the bond language and the bond project list, which details how the money is to be spent, at its May 20 meeting. After that, it’s on to a final review and a potential board vote on June 17 to put the bond on the ballot.
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