Reflections on 2018 Exit Survey Results
August 28, 2018
The district recently released the results of the exit survey they conducted at the 2018 election. (H/t to Jason Smith, who shared it on our Facebook group.)
Jason makes a good point:
Glossing through the survey comments demonstrate to me that even though the District is working very hard at communicating to the NC population, the message is still not getting through to some. There are survey comments that are just flat out factually incorrect. I fear that more and more of our neighbors will be uninformed, vote in the negative for the wrong reasons, and spread that info to others. There should be an effort to determine how best to get the right information out to those who have the wrong ideas about NCCS.
I share his concerns. One of the reasons we founded this group was to help increase public understanding of what has become a surprisingly complex domain: public education. We apparently still have our work cut out for us.
The results
While reading through the survey results, some thoughts come to mind:
The lowest approval rate was among those who cited local media (82%) as their best sources of information.
This suggests that we need to do a better job of engaging with local media. Letters to the editor are helpful, both for reminding people why our schools are important, and for convincing the local media that the issue is important for their readers/listeners/viewers.
Of the “no” voters:
44% (22 respondents) are age 45-60; 42% are age 61 or older; 10% are age 30-44; and 4% are age 18-29
We’d do well to focus our efforts on communicating with older members of the community.
Why did you vote the way you did?
The section covering why people voted the way they did was interesting, though not particularly enlightening. That nearly a third of “no” voters indicated that they voted no because they’re already satisfied with with the quality of the schools suggests that we could do a better job communicating about how the budget process works (I have to assume they voted no because they figure the schools are doing just fine with their current budget and didn’t need an increase).
There were also a handful of responses in that category that suggest that people just didn’t read the survey very carefully: people claim to have voted “no” because the tax increase was reasonable, or that it would benefit their children?
The biggest reason people give for a “no” vote is that the projected tax increase is not reasonable. That’s a tough one to overcome. Not everyone agrees with Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. that “taxes are what we pay for civilized society” (and even those who do agree may differ on the specific amount they consider reasonable). I can only suggest that we continue to talk about why we love our schools. The idea that we as a community will pay for a high-quality education for all of our students is a wonderful thing—we need to share that sentiment as much as we can.
There are a handful of “no” voters who give reasons for a “no” vote that are based on bad information, like blaming the increase in the budget on development in the community (which actually broadens the tax base) or conflating the $200 million bond issue that failed in 2016 with the annual budget. There are also a number of voters who indicate that they didn’t feel informed about the budget. While it would be easy to dismiss them by looking at the quantity of information put out by the district, I think there’s value in working to educate the public about the school budgeting process, how the school district is distinct from the town, and the legal and practical constraints within which the budget must operate (anyone want to help me with this?)—it’s extremely complicated, and I think we can respond with empathy to voters who haven’t taken the time to educate themselves (or are so overwhelmed by it all that they don’t know where to start).
And there will always be a few people who simply don’t support the concept of public education and resent paying for it. We might be able to reach a few of them, but I don’t know that it’s a good use of our time.
It’s heartening to read comments from “yes” voters who obviously love our schools and are eager to do whatever they can to support them. We should be looking for ways to motivate these people to share that sentiment with their neighbors and get them to vote too.
Additional Comments
Some of the additional comments are worth thinking about:
We could always use more education on what the money is needed for, how it breaks down, and the value it brings. I think when people just see a number, they just react to the size of the number. Thanks and have a good year
This is a tough one. I think the commenter is right that people just see the final number and react to that. $100 million is so far beyond the scale most people deal with that it’s difficult to see it as anything other than huge, and a budget at that scale is going to be complex, so it’s not easy to show what the money is needed for. It’s definitely something to think about.
This strategy of raising taxes the highest amount allowed by the cap every year is a disservice to tax payers. North Colonie consistently has the largest increase in tax levy of all schools in the Suburban Council. You are going to price people out of this district. There needs to be a balance
DIstrict [sic] playing 2% cap game, no control of spending.
Leaving aside the question of whether this is factually accurate, it suggests a few misunderstandings. First, the presence of the tax cap as a percentage of the previous year’s levy almost necessitates maxing it out each year, because savings or reductions that might happen in a given year (e.g., a warm winter that lowers heating and snow-removal costs) can’t be returned to the taxpayer without setting that level of spending as the new norm, at which point there won’t be enough money without that windfall. And secondly, Colonie as a town is growing, so of course the tax levy will increase—tax levy does not equate to tax rate.
More discussion of the budget process and the restrictions the state places on the way the district can raise and spend money might help here.
Not enough information on the school board candidates. You find out very little about them
I think there’s merit to this complaint. I pay attention to the process, attended the “Meet the Candidates” forum, and personally communicated with the candidates, and I still didn’t necessarily feel like I had a good understanding of who they all were. Advertising our Meet the Candidates page better might help, but I think we need more dialogue surrounding school board elections in general.
I was unhappy to see an uncontested seat for school board. Local democracy is vitally important.
I share this concern. I still haven’t had a chance to look into why our rules allow the situation we had this spring, where three candidates ran for one seat while the other candidate was unopposed.
The issue of school security and safety has been discussed in the course of this election campaign. I am in favor of increasing mental health support; programs to address bullying and offer students training in non-violent communication, conflict resolution and anger management. I am against “hardening the target” by making schools into fortresses or arming teachers and staff.
This is a legitimate concern. It’s unfortunate that these policy-type decisions were pushed into the annual budget, rather than being discussed extensively in open school board meetings with ample time for public comment.
NY’s costs of education are already well above levels for most other states, with no apparent correlation with outcomes for students being any different than those for students in these other states.
I’d like an answer on this too. It’s probably out of scope for our group to research though.
Conclusions
There’s plenty of room for us as a group to help improving voters’ understanding of these issues. It’s also good for us to remember that public support among those who voted was high, but turnout was low. We need to work on that. We should strive to share our love for our schools and our feelings about the importance and value of public education with the rest of our community.
And because it’s good to remember that what we do is important to people, here’s a sampling of the positive comments:
Thank you for the great work that you do!
This is an excellent school district. I will always support North Colonie.
I will always be grateful for the opportunities afforded my 2 children who went thru the NC system. High quality, reasonable taxes and outstanding stewardship of public funds. Thank you.
A great school with great faculty and staff
I love North Colonie Schools!!
Well done this year!
—Samuel Johnson