This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 15, 2011 - If comments from the public and results from a telephone survey are any guide, a proposed tax increase for the Rockwood School District may face a tough time in November.
Survey results presented Thursday night to the district's school board showed that 51.5 percent would oppose a tax increase of 65 cents; 42.9 percent would favor it, according to the survey of 500 registered voters conducted in early June. The board has not yet decided on an exact amount to seek.
The survey questions were asked before a controversy erupted in Rockwood over the hiring of two high-level administrators who had done consulting work for the west county district and came up with a plan that included jobs for which they were then chosen, at six-figure salaries.That decision -- made by new Superintendent Bruce Borchers and approved by the school board -- was the target of public comments that brought applause from a few dozen people in the audience at the meeting at Crestview Middle School.
"I am deeply, deeply, deeply disappointed in all these recent events," said Bob Nation, who said he has gone door to door to support past Rockwood ballot issues and had three children graduate from schools in the district.
He said he could not support another tax increase and thought Borchers had made a mistake, telling board members:
"I implore you to do something significant and meaningful."
Board President Steve Smith, responding to the comments by Nation and others, indicated that some response to the controversy could come soon.
"We do listen," he told the crowd, and went on to say:
"I expect there will be some action in the near future."
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last month that Borchers, who just completed his first year at Rockwood, hired two former colleagues from the Minnesota district where he used to work to help come up with a new organization for the district.
The administrators -- Randy Smasal and Nancy DuBois -- were paid $1,800 a day for the work, most of which they did from Minnesota. Then, they were each hired for jobs that were included in their plan. DuBois will be paid $125,000 in his position as executive director of learning and support services; Smasal's salary as associate superintendent of learning will be $138,000.
Trying to stem anger over the hirings, which came after Rockwood had laid off teachers, counselors and other staff members, Borchers said an open letter last month:
"I realize the impact of these decisions and regret the way they have been perceived. My focus for all decisions is on the students of this district and how we can help them be successful. I remain committed to our mission and to working with teachers, parents and our community in support of that mission."
Public skeptical about tax at meeting
That regret did not appear to have much effect on speakers at Thursday night's meeting.
Herman Kreigshauser told the board that if it decides to move forward with the tax increase proposal in November, "I believe we have a difficult public relations issue, and I'm not sure we can change voters' minds."
Dale Redhage, who questioned the amount the board planned to spend on vehicles, said, "I don't understand how we can spend money the way we've been spending."
As far as the salaries of administrators, he said he understood that some had said they could earn more in business rather than in education. For them, Redhage had a suggestion: that they sign a letter of resignation that he had printed up for them.
"If they feel they're underpaid," he said, "they can fill this out, then start looking for a job in the private sector."
Steve Ayotte, who said he has been an educator in Rockwood and other local districts, complained of "misconceptions, misperceptions and lies" and predicted that any tax increase will be defeated, even though the money may be needed.
"The problem is not that this district doesn't need additional funding," he said. "It does, and I'll argue that with anyone in this room. The problem is that there is no way you can ask folks to vote for a tax increase when they have no confidence in your leadership.
"I know what's going to happen when this tax levy doesn't pass, and that saddens me."
Asked afterward about his reaction to the public comments, Smith said he was not surprised because he has been reading similar sentiments in emails, letters and blogs. He acknowledged mixed feelings about the tax issue, which he noted he had drafted for presentation in November.
"The reasons we decided on November are still there, but I also think there are reasons that could point in another direction," Smith said before the board went into a closed session. "We're going to have a long discussion."
Borchers, when asked how Rockwood could put the controversy behind it, said:
"My focus will remain on the kids, and I hope as we do great things for these kids, people will see the results of these changes."
Results of telephone survey
The results of the telephone survey were presented to the board in a work session before its regular meeting. Rod Wright and Sharon Gotter from the firm Unicom-Arc said that though 51.5 percent of respondents said they opposed a tax increase in the hypothetical amount of 65 cents, for a different question, 57.1 percent said they either strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement that they were willing to support a tax increase to make sure Rockwood maintained a high quality education.
Wright, who has conducted such surveys for many years, said the seeming discrepancy can be tied to an ambivalence people have about taxes and schools in general as opposed to their views of a specific ballot proposal.
"Often," he said, "when you ask people a question purely about education, you find a higher level of support than when you ask them about taxation. It depends on what lens they are looking through. This is a very common pattern."
He also said that when people are proud of the job their schools are doing, as the survey indicated Rockwood residents are, they think that they can continue getting the same positive results without necessarily having to pay more.
Wright was openly skeptical about the prospects for passing a tax proposal in Rockwood and told board members they should think about the timing, particularly because if the election is held in November, the district will shoulder a much higher cost than it would if it were held when other issues and candidates are on the ballot.
He also noted that while supporters of a tax hike may come out to vote, the opposition -- which he characterized as "hyperactive conservative voters who tend to go to the polls no matter what" -- will have to be reckoned with.
"They've got a lot of things to talk about," he said.
On the other hand, he did not necessarily think that the perceptions about the hiring by Borchers of his two former associates would make much difference in the end.
"It's going to take more than one newspaper story to move the numbers a lot," he said.
Results of an online survey, which was conducted after the Borchers story became public, will be available later this month.
The Rockwood board has to decide by the end of August whether to proceed with the tax increase proposal and if so, how much the district will ask voters to approve. It last raised taxes in April 1994, when an increase of $1.23 won passage at the polls. Rockwood is the largest school district in St. Louis County, with 22,000 students.
After Wright's presentation, Smith thanked him and noted that while the survey presented the board with information it could use in its deliberations, the final decision was up to board members. "I'm not sure that this necessarily points to putting it off," he said.
Wright responded that "we've certainly worked with districts that had worse numbers than these."