Some District Voters Say K-L Spending 'Excessive,' Survey Finds

Nearly two-thirds of a sampling of registered voters in the Katonah-Lewisboro school district believe the cost of a K-L education is excessive, according to the results of a recent phone survey.

The survey included 300 members of the district community—just over half of respondents did not have children in the schools—and solicited answers to an array of questions ranging from educational quality and costs to district leadership and communications. 

A second survey where 346 community members who were not interviewed by phone opted to answer questions online revealed similar results. The majority of the self-selected population—over half of whom were parents of children in the district—also felt district spending was "excessive and intolerable."

"The district needs to arrest that per-pupil spending, because that's the perception even within the parent community," said Michael Conte, chairman and CEO of Syntax, the public relations firm retained by the district, which conducted and analyzed the surveys. Conte presented the results at a special board meeting Tuesday night.

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In both the phone and internet surveys, the majority of respondents said the tax cap was "just about right," or "too high." Over half of the voters surveyed said they did not want to see cuts to programs, services or staff.

Board members said that reflected the current down economy and financial difficulty residents were facing.

"For people who think that 2 percent is about right but they want to maintain services, the solution is to identify the budget drivers and lower those costs," said Mike Gordon. "To borrow from the Dr. Treyz playbook: People are hurting. Somehow we've got to deliver services in a more efficient way. That's what it comes down to."

One of the cost drivers voters were most concerned with was employee benefits: over 60 percent of respondents said benefits were "overly generous" and should be reduced.

Over half of of the voters and 70 percent of the self-selected participants were satisfied with the quality of education received by students, but not necessarily with district leadership. Of the 37 percent of voters who felt the district was headed in the wrong direction, 42 percent blamed district leadership.

Conte said discontentment around employee benefits and leadership were topical and reflected the general public's growing resentment about pensions and discontentment with elected officials.

"The public understands these topics better than ever," said Conte, who noted that while the survey was taking place in December, the battle over Tier 6 pension reform was being waged in Albany.

Board members also said a lack of communication may contribute to the community's perceptions on leadership.

"We all know the history of board—and five years ago there were verbal fights in this room—to say we haven't improved in that time is more of a statement of what people feel of leadership in general," said Mark Lipton, school board president.

Conte said partnering with local media to help convey information could help but the district should also "tell its own story." Newspapers—print and digital versions—were the primary source of information on the district for 39 percent of voters and 44 percent of the self-selected population.

Superintendent of Schools Paul Kreutzer said the district could plan on ways to improve communications with voters and parents and improve non-parent household awareness of the district's progress.

"This survey is a benchmark, it gives us a baseline. We can start using this for the future," he said.

Kreutzer said the district was looking for general trends in this survey and may do additional surveys in the future to "dig deeper."

Click on the presentation posted with this story for the full presentation of survey results.