The Business of Education: Back to School

On April 8, Columbia Public Schools requested a tax levy increase of 54 cents to maintain increases in teacher and staff salaries, operating expenses, employee benefits and retirement costs. The levy did not pass.

As such, Columbia Public Schools is headed back to the drawing board to consider the next steps. A critical first step must be to gather, analyze and understand the data around the vote. Were our taxpayers “sending a message” around their perceptions of district operating procedures? Or were the changing economic times the primary factor for the levy defeat? Were the public’s perceptions reflective of reality? If so, exactly what would our public require that we change? If not, how do we change incorrect perceptions with facts?

These are the questions district staff and the Board of Education will be reflecting on in the coming weeks. At its annual retreat this summer, the board will take steps toward developing an action plan to guide the district’s financial well-being. I anticipate the general purpose of those initial steps will be to find additional ways to gather feedback from our public. While there are several professional firms that could provide us with sophisticated survey data in support of accurate and targeted action planning, we will need to decide whether to employ their expertise, use a more grassroots, interactive—albeit less statistical—method of gathering public opinion, or use some combination of the two.

Next, we will need to decide on a method of disseminating our findings to our public, with a focus on the implications for current and future practice. All of this will need to happen with an eye on the district’s budget development timeline that begins this September for implementation in the next school year. Whichever method is decided on, the commitment will be to a focus on the facts, versus nuance or innuendo.

So, while the school year will end soon for many of our students and staff, this board and administration will be going “back to school” and “hitting the books” this summer as we listen to our public and develop an action plan that ensures the financial wellbeing of Columbia Public Schools for years to come.