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Jordan board commissions focus groups after Lighthouse survey on $120 million fieldhouse plan
Summary
After a Lighthouse Research presentation showing 53% net support for a proposed $120 million bond to fund fieldhouses at six high schools, the Jordan School District board authorized follow-up focus groups and directed staff to begin legal and logistical steps toward a bond question on the ballot.
The Jordan School District Board of Education heard a detailed public‑opinion presentation on April 14 from Lighthouse Research and voted to proceed with further qualitative research and staff preparations for a possible bond question.
Lighthouse representatives said their mixed‑mode survey (email plus telephone) collected 96 completed responses between Jan. 31 and March 11. "We contracted to do 900 surveys. And what we contracted to do was survey residents of Jordan School District. We actually got 96 mixed mode surveys," Christy, chief insights officer, told the board, and said the sample had been weighted to likely voters.
The firm presented candidate bond details to respondents — an approximately $120 million measure to build roughly 35,000‑square‑foot fieldhouses at each of the district's six high schools — and an estimated tax impact of about $98 a year on the owner of a $615,000 home paid over 16 years. After hearing that framing Lighthouse reported 53% of respondents would support the bond, 40% would oppose it and 7% were undecided.
Board members debated next steps. Some members said the survey results were promising but not definitive; others urged the board to give voters a direct say. The board voted 5–2 to continue research with focus groups, with Mr. Barnett and Miss Barrow recorded as opposing.
The board then voted unanimously to commission three focus groups, accepting Lighthouse's lowest‑cost option (three groups for $19,950) and asking staff to work with the vendor on objectives and discussion guides. "The qualitative research gives us the more of the story behind the statistically valid data," Charlotte Davis, Lighthouse CEO, said.
Separately the board unanimously approved a motion directing district staff to begin the legal and procedural work needed to put a bond initiative on the ballot — a procedural step, not a final decision to place the bond before voters. District staff said the calendar allows time to prepare for a ballot if the board later votes to place an initiative before the lieutenant governor's filing deadline (discussed as mid‑July/Aug. 20th timing during the meeting).
What happens next: Lighthouse will run the focus groups and return results; staff will prepare legal, budget and timeline analyses to explain what a bond‑ballot path would require. The board emphasized that the April motions were preparatory: the decision to place a measure on the ballot would require additional board action after legal and fiscal work is complete.
