Communicating Referendum Details to Your Community
Best Practices to Ensure Voters are InformedBy Brett Clark
Outside of changing attendance boundary lines, is there any bigger decision in the eyes of a board member than putting a referendum on the ballot?
Asking voters to increase their taxes should be well thought out by the board of education, prior to a decision.
When a school board has determined the need to place a bond issue or operating question on the ballot, the school district owes the constituents accurate, timely, and trustworthy information prior to the vote … as well as after.
Maine THSD 207 has approximately 6,300 students in three schools with attendance boundaries located to the north and east of O’Hare International Airport. In the summer of 2018, District 207’s board placed a $195 million bond issue on the ballot for that November. Here’s how it happened.
Due Diligence
Maine THSD 207 completed many steps prior to the board voting to place the question on the ballot. Those steps included the creation of a master facility plan, community engagement, and a community survey.
The master facility plan was a detailed document that outlined the needs at each of the three high schools in the district, and provided recommendations about the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. While the creation of this document utilized a vast amount of staff time, along with the cost of the district’s architects and engineers, it was the foundation for developing the list of items for the referendum.
The community engagement process provided multiple opportunities for community members to learn more about the district’s needs and ask critical questions. This was accomplished through several strategies, including public meetings and information posted on the district website. The public meetings provided the district with an opportunity to gauge the amount of work and investment the community was willing to support. During those meetings, the district was able to present scope-of-work scenarios, as well as dollars and cents options with a live audience followed by live audience feedback.
The community survey was a statistically valid phone survey that provided insights into the community’s opinions related to a potential referendum question, as well as which construction items being considered were supported and which were not.
The objectives of each of these efforts were to inform the community of the condition and needs of the schools, solicit broad-based community input into a potential referendum, and assess voters’ response to a possible ballot question. All of this information was utilized to provide the board with a data-based recommendation related to putting a referendum on the ballot. Each of the strategies also helped to inform the communication and engagement process regarding the referendum after the board voted to put the question on the ballot.
District Campaign Is Fact Based
It is important for school district and board members to realize it is illegal for taxpayer dollars to be spent on an advocacy campaign. That said, it is vitally important for the school district to run an informational campaign to share with all taxpayers how the funds will be used if the referendum is approved by the voters. Ensuring the line between advocacy and information is not crossed is vitally important.
For the District 207 information campaign, transparency was the key word. The goal was for every taxpayer to know exactly what would happen if the referendum passed and what would happen if it did not pass. This was a multifaceted information campaign to ensure that voters were aware of all the referendum details.
One strategy was to hold community engagement sessions that included multiple opportunities to tour the schools. Those were led by principals and administrators but also included students so the community members could hear from multiple perspectives about the realities facing the schools. Many community members thought they knew what the schools looked like inside but were surprised to see the realities of the school buildings during the tours. For perspective, Maine East High School opened in 1930, Maine West opened in 1959 and students began attending Maine South in 1964. Major renovations to infrastructure had not taken place in any of those schools after their initial openings.
Community and parent presentations also were held that included administrative leadership meetings with PTO/PTA groups, Chambers of Commerce, League of Women Voters, and service organizations like Kiwanis Club. The district also held a Facebook live event that allowed the public to ask questions about the referendum following the presentation in real time. That event was recorded and shared with the public after it was conducted. These engagement sessions allowed for the community to learn more about the referendum and to engage with district and school officials with questions and concerns.
A website was created with in-depth data and information about the referendum that included a tax calculator so residents could estimate the increase in their taxes. The site included a Frequently Asked Questions page that was constantly updated based upon questions gathered from the engagement sessions and the Q&A link on the website. The website also included renderings of the new spaces that would be created by the referendum and information on registering to vote and where to vote.
Multiple Communication Channels
One of the strategies employed by the district was to be sure that varied avenues were utilized to share information. The district sent two oversized postcards to every household within the school district boundaries with basic information about the referendum that included details on where to go for additional information. While this was the most costly of the strategies, it also ensured the district shared information with every potential voter.
Additionally, social media was utilized to push information out on a regular basis that linked viewers back to the website where a vast amount of information was available for those who wanted to learn more. When comments and questions were made on social media (for or against the vote), answers were provided with links back to the website for additional information.
The district met with each of the newspaper editors that cover the district to share referendum information and answer any questions. Local media editors obviously decide the substance and stance of any editorial that is published in the newspaper. Therefore, the goal of the meeting from the district’s perspective was to ensure that if editors wrote about the ballot question, they had all the salient information.
Multiple videos were created to provide a look into the state of the schools for those who were unable to make the tours, as well as provide accurate information about what would be accomplished if the referendum was passed by the voters. An overview video was created along with three other in-depth videos that focused on key aspects of what referendum dollars would be used for: safety/security improvements, infrastructure replacement, and updating the instructional settings. Additionally, vignette videos were created on other aspects of the referendum improvements including accessibility for students with special needs and students walking outside at one school during passing periods due to crowding in hallways.
Involve Legal Counsel
Referendums are not something that school districts typically do on a regular basis. Since this is usually uncharted waters, having a guide to help is extremely important. Your legal counsel will be your best friend during a referendum. They can guide you on what you can (and can’t) say, help with questions about staff members contributing to a partisan campaign run by local citizens, and review communications to ensure they are non-partisan. For example, the District 207 legal team created a “dos and don’ts” guideline document for staff so they understood the rules of the road. This was shared with all staff and utilized whenever a question arose related to staff questions.
Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests
There will be residents who are against the referendum and districts need to be prepared for both their questions and potential requests for information through FOIA. During the time between when the board began discussing placing a referendum on the ballot and the vote (five months), District 207 received 132 FOIA requests. Prepare for this possibility as these requests can take both time and resources to provide the information to requestors.
After the Election
The voters in District 207 passed the referendum on November 6, 2018 and in many ways the substantial communication work began after the vote. The district was clear with the constituents that if the referendum passed, transparency would be the guiding principle. The district did its best to follow through on that promise.
The website transitioned from a referendum website to a construction website that still exists today. While some aspects of the referendum site remained, there was a shift to construction updates, photos of the projects, and videos of the construction.
Construction updates summarized the monthly reports that were provided to the Board of Education. Those reports were sent to all parent and community email addresses the district had on file, as well as posted on the district website. Literally thousands of photos were taken during the construction projects and shared with the parents and community through a Google folder linked from the website. Additionally, videos of the work were compiled and shared with the parents and community, including several time-lapse videos.
In addition, construction information was the focus of each community newsletter the district sends to all households twice a year. Local media was invited out on several occasions to tour the schools and help update the district’s constituents about the projects and its progress. This resulted in several update stories being published by the newspapers that helped keep the community informed about the work being completed utilizing taxpayer dollars.
Finally, the district utilized social media to share information about the construction progress, costs and other detailed information about the projects.
Bottom Line
No matter what size district or the resources available, it is the responsibility of the school system to share as much information as possible about a referendum prior to a vote and to keep the community informed about how those funds are being utilized following a passed referendum. Utilizing these strategies, and adding others targeted for your local situation and scope, can help fulfill that responsibility and ensure the community is informed about how its tax dollars are being utilized.
Brett Clark, APR, is the Communications Director for Maine Township High School District 207, current board member for the Illinois Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association (INSPRA), a former board of education member in Itasca School District 10, a former board member of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) and communications consultant with a national communications firm.