School District Plans Budget Vote Survey

The School District of the Chathams is planning to release a survey to residents that is intended to determine why they voted the way they did in last week's school election.

Superintendent Jim O'Neill said that it's difficult to know what exactly to make of last week's budget vote. Residents approved the district's $54.2 million budget by a 58 to 42 percent margin, but O'Neill said district officials don't know exactly what motives were behind individual votes.

Did people vote yes, or did they vote no, because of how well they felt the budget addressed local issues, O'Neill wondered? Were people mostly concerned with state issues, or were they simply fed up with taxes? Or did they base 'no' votes on adverse publicity in the press? O'Neill threw out all of those as possibilities.

"We feel it would be part of our due diligence to find that out," O'Neill said.

O'Neill said the district wants to keep the survey short enough so people are encouraged to fill it out, and said the district is in the process of devising its questions.

He encouraged board members to submit questions they thought would be appropriate for the survey.

"We're anxious to get this out while the election is fresh in people's minds," he said.

Board members agreed that a survey is a good idea.

"I think it'd be a great opportunity to understand why people voted no," Board President Steve Barna said.

Board member Al Burgunder said the survey could serve as a connection point between the board and the public.

"I'm personally very supportive of opening this up," he said. "I think it sends a very strong message to the community that we care about how they feel."

District officials said they hoped to put up links to the survey on both the borough and township Web sites, and said they hoped to spread the word through the local media as well.