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Madison-Plains sticks with levy for Linson Road site
(by Linda Dillman, staff writer - February 17, 2010)
Results of a community survey are propelling the Madison-Plains Local Schools district forward with a 6.99-mill bond issue to build a K-12 building on Linson Road.
Diane Lawrence, president of Strategic Visioning, the company responsible for conducting the survey, presented a report to the school board on Feb. 11 outlining the interview process and detailing responses. She was accompanied by Deidre Soileau, president of a firm analyzing the results, the Flagg Group.
Four hundred telephone interviews were conducted Jan. 26 through Feb. 6 with registered voters living within the boundaries of the school district. The groups were organized geographically—east, middle and west.
Voters were asked to grade Madison Plains Local Schools; rate the performance of the district regarding finance, communication, and building condition; and comment on bond issue scenarios.
According to the survey, more than half of the people who responded gave the district an A or B grade. Forty-one percent said the schools were doing an average job in spending tax dollars, 33 percent said they are doing a good job, and 18 percent rated the job as poor.
When asked their opinion on the condition of Madison-Plains High School, 45 percent of respondents said the structure was in good condition, but 30 percent said it should be renovated. As for the middle school, 30 percent said it was in good condition and 31 percent said it should be renovated.
The percentages were nearly the same for Madison Rural and Midway Elementary; 36 to 39 percent said the buildings should be replaced while 45 percent said they did not know. Forty-five percent of respondents said Mount Sterling Elementary should be replaced. Many people said they did not know about the condition of the schools.
“This is the area of greatest concern,” said Lawrence in referring to the large percentage of people unfamiliar with the condition of the elementary schools. “With the number of ‘don’t knows,’ the information about the buildings is not being communicated to the public.
“Nearly three voters in five feel the district does a good job keeping the public informed about what is happening in the district, but you need to improve communication with people who do not have children in schools,” she said.
“Voters familiar with the district’s elementary schools feel they should be replaced, but many do not know how to rate those buildings.”
While more than 50 percent of the people polled said they supported the November 2009 bond issue, 41 percent said they opposed the ballot issue. When asked which option they would most likely support, 55 percent voiced approval of putting the K-12 building on Linson Road.
When responses were broken down according to geographic area, 36 percent of people living in Fairfield Township, Mount Sterling and Pleasant Township supported a K-12 building at the site of the present high school and middle school. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents in Oak Run Township, Range Township and the Union Township East voting precinct voiced the same opinion, and 77 percent of the respondents in Paint Township, Midway, South Solon, Stokes Township and the Union Township West precinct expressed the same view.
“Half of the people said they’d be most likely to support a new building at Linson Road,” Lawrence said. “The Linson Road location is the only option that gained significant voter support.”
Options included construction of a K-12 building further east with additional millage to purchase land or 10 mills for a K-12 and a second building.
When the questioning turned to funding, the majority of voters in the middle and west areas were in favor of an approximately 7-mill bond issue to raise the local share of a Linson Road construction project. The biggest opposition to the proposal, at more than 54 percent, came from people living in the east part of the district.
Following the survey presentation, board members voiced unanimous support of returning to the ballot to fund the local share of a K-12 construction project.
“I feel the only option we have is to put it back on the ballot in May for Linson Road,” said board member Michael Brandt. “We need to educate people on the buildings and how much it costs to run the buildings. We need to let people know that a lot of repair we need to do, we can’t do.”
Linda Blankenship told fellow board members the district needs to reach people who are unfamiliar with the state of the schools, especially those in the eastern area. She said Madison-Plains also needs to move forward with the bond issue so it does not lose corresponding state dollars.
“It’s time we move on as Madison-Plains and not just a bunch of little communities,” stated board member Dave Hunter.
The board approved a resolution of necessity to place a 6.99-mill, 28-year bond issue on the May ballot. If passed, the levy will cost $214.07 per year for the owner of a home valued at $100,000.
Note: To review the full list of survey questions and results, go to the Madison-Plains Web site at www.mplsd.org and click on the “Facilities” tab at the top of the page.
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