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Survey shows majority support for levy to raise school staff pay, board discusses third‑party study
Summary
A district-commissioned phone survey, presented to the board, indicated roughly 70% support for a proposed tax levy earmarked for staff salaries; trustees discussed hiring an outside firm to run a compensation study and plans for public engagement.
Doctor Thomas presented community-survey results to the board, describing a statistically representative phone sample split by school attendance area and highlighting public attitudes toward district priorities. "So in this one, we asked, would you be willing to support a 75¢ levy increase on your taxes in order to support staff salary increases? And that came back 70% of people supported that," Doctor Thomas said.
Thomas summarized the survey design (40% Cornerstone, 40% Lewis, 20% Elkhorn) and noted other takeaways including a fall in the percentage of respondents who said the district provides a strong foundation for property values (from 94% previously to 72% in the recent survey) and lower-than-expected scores for district communication. Board members discussed using a third-party compensation study to benchmark local salaries against comparator districts, potentially pacing any long-term salary adjustments in phases and communicating the results to the community prior to pursuing ballot measures.
Trustees did not adopt a levy measure at the meeting; they directed staff to post the full survey results online and to consider outreach strategies to broaden community input. Doctor Thomas said staff will make the survey and its breakdowns available on the district website and by email to parents.
