The Referendum

Greetings from Fuddle River Schools. The board met this week to discuss plans for the upcoming excess school levy referendum. The excess levy funds would pay for hiring an additional crossing guard at the elementary school and would provide additional funding for muffins and bagels on workshop days. District financial advisors estimate the levy would add 53 cents to the annual property tax on a $100,000 home. A more modest excess levy request failed last year.

Board member Vernice Vicklestone reported on the district-wide phone poll conducted to determine whether voters would support a new excess levy referendum. The majority of voters supported the idea of adding a crossing guard, but many thought that district money would be better spent on donuts than on muffins and bagels. Results of the phone poll were hard to interpret due to a misprint in the script that had pollsters asking if respondents would support the "excessive school levy."

The most interesting results of the poll were that 88% of those surveyed were unsure what it is that the Fuddle River School District does. Even when poll respondents were given hints, only 16% were willing to guess that it had something to do with schools. Vicklestone argued, "We really should consider a campaign to educate the voters about what it is we do before we request more money for doing it." Board member Fred Furnley expressed concern that increased public knowledge of the school district's function could result in the public actually holding the district accountable for results. The board then decided that financing a public education campaign would be a poor use of district education funds. The board did agree to consider the muffins and bagels versus donuts question. The board will continue its consideration the excess levy referendum at its next meeting.

And that's it this week from Fuddle River Schools.

Copyright cc 2011 by John P. Wood for Learning Laffs

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