School referendum survey will focus on tax tolerance
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
Instead of inundating district residents with information and options for repair or replacement of school facilities, Burlington Area School District officials on Monday agreed to pursue a slimmed down survey that focuses on tax tolerance.
“That allows the respondent to say, ‘Here’s the amount (we’re willing to pay), you guys figure it out,’” said Bill Foster, a consultant from School Perceptions Inc., who is preparing the survey on behalf of the district.
The draft of the survey presented by Foster includes a question asking residents how much spending on maintenance and/or upgrades of facilities they’d be willing to support in increments of $10 million, starting at $30 million and extending to $70 million.
The low end of that range includes recommended maintenance and security upgrades at all facilities and the high end includes the maintenance and security upgrades as well as the construction of a new grade 5 to 8 middle school to replace Karcher Middle School.
“At the end of the day, what we want to know is what’s your tax tolerance,” School Board member Kevin Bird commented.
For the full story – including some controversy over whether such a survey provides enough information for voters to make an informed decision – see Thursday edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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