WHO ANSWERED THE SURVEY?
While 1,732 district residents ages 18 and over responded, most respondents were between the ages of 36 and 55.
Over 2/3 of respondents live in either the City of Hudson (population, 2014 estimate: 13,415) or the Town of Hudson (population, 2012 estimate: 4,757). Another third of resident respondents live in the Town of Troy, Town of St. Joseph and North Hudson.
Other interesting facts about respondents:
10% of respondents were employed by the Hudson School District
51% of respondents have children attending Hudson School District
Of those respondents:
79% of respondents had children attending Hudson Middle School or Hudson High School
13% were River Crest Elementary parents
12% were Hudson Prairie Elementary parents
10% were EP Rock Elementary parents
HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE CAN WE PLACE IN THIS SURVEY?
There are algebraic equations that tell us how much confidence we can place in this survey. For example, if you look at http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html and enter a margin of error of 2.4% (the district’s number), a 95% confidence level, a population size of 14,000 (the number of households who were mailed the survey), and response distribution of 50%, your calculation will result in a recommended sample size of 1,430. The school district’s sample size was 1,732 which means that there are more than enough replies to the survey to feel confident that the survey results would be accurate and reflective of the population as a whole had 100% answered the survey.
The survey also pointed out that district parents and non-parents alike attend numerous school-sponsored events. Almost all parents who responded (93%) attended at least one district-sponsored event (athletic, performance, etc.) in the past year. In fact almost a third of parents (32%) attended more than 10 such events. 2/3 of non-parents in the school district attended at least one school-sponsored event.
HOW DO YOU THINK THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IS DOING?
Those who filled out the survey were asked to fill out a “Report Card” regarding the school district. People were asked to rate different areas (such as the quality of learning environment, infrastructure like HVAC, technology, and even cafeteria and athletic space) on a scale of 1-4 with 1 being POOR and 4 being GREAT. All respondents answered that they rated the school district as doing a GOOD job (a score of 3) in delivering a high quality educational experience, preparing students for life after high school and providing a welcoming and safe learning environment.
Furthermore, all residents rated the areas of building pride in our community, providing opportunities for community input, keeping the public informed, maintaining school facilities and spending tax dollars wisely as between 2 and 3 or between FAIR and GOOD. One reason for falling satisfaction in the areas of school facility maintenance and wise use of tax dollars could be that residents feel that we are falling behind in these areas.
WHAT ARE OUR PRIORITIES?
Using a scale of 1 to 3 with 1 being LOW priority and 3 being HIGH priority, residents placed priorities on various items in developing a facility plan. If you look at the prioritizing by residents as a whole, the highest rating was 2.7 for “add/redesign classrooms…” (#1 below) and the lowest was 1.51 “adding synthetic turf to the stadium.” Here are the rankings for priorities for all residents
Add/redesign classrooms to better meet instructional needs and address capacity issues (high school)
Complete the process of updating science/tech. ed. labs
Replace as needed roofs, windows and doors
Replace and improve heating, ventilation plumbing, electrical and lighting systems
Improve technology infrastructure for students/staff
Add/redesign classrooms to better meet instructional needs and address capacity issues (middle school)
Improve safety and security
Increase hallway size and improve building-wide traffic flow
Expand cafeteria/kitchen
Expand gym space to meet instructional/co-curricular demands (high school)
Expand gym space to meet instructional/co-curricular demands (middle school)
Update lighting and sound systems
Improve parking lot traffic flow, parking and site safety (high school)
Increase seating capacity
Increase seating, improve concessions, add restrooms and onsite locker rooms
Provide outdoor athletic facilities on high school site
Add/upgrade dressing room, set construction and storage
Improve parking lot traffic flow and site safety (middle school)
Resurface varsity track
Improve outdoor physical education/practice fields
Add lighting at the baseball and softball fields
Resurface and light tennis courts
Add synthetic turf to stadium
WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
With those priorities in mind, 71% of overall survey respondents advised the School Board to pursue a referendum to improve our schools.
The survey presented 3 options to go to voters:
Option 1: build new 10-12 high school, renovated current high school for 8-9, maintain current HMS for 6-7. Estimated total cost: $96 to $104.3 million.
Option 2: add/renovate HHS for 10-12 grades; build new 8-9 school; maintain HMS for 6-7 grades. Estimated total cost: $93-$100.9 million.
Option 3: add/renovate HHS for 9-12 grades; add/renovate HMS for 6-8 grades. Estimated total cost: $79.2-$86.1 million.
The most solid support came for Option 3 with 55% of all residents responding that they would support it. Of all respondents, staff and parent residents were the most highly supportive of this choice. The option with the least support was Option 2. The majority of residents (53%) also supported renovating the existing auditorium and 46% supported improvements to outdoor athletic fields.
WHAT LEVEL OF TAX INCREASE IS ACCEPTABLE TO REACH THIS GOAL?
Overall 48% of respondents felt that the district positively impacted their home value.
Residents were also asked about their support of a tax increase to fund these building projects.
26% of all residents said they would support $125 million
An additional 9% of all residents said they would support $115 million
A further 13% said they would support $105 million.
11% of residents said they would support $95 million.
7% of residents said they would support $85 million.
If we tally these numbers up, 59% of ALL residents felt that $95 million was an acceptable tax increase for these projects and 66% said they would support $85 million.
Fall 2015 Community Engagement Survey
HIGHLIGHTS