Survey will be final piece of St. Charles school referendum decision

St. Charles school board members are leaning toward a $35 million referendum this November to improve middle schools. But before they decide, they want to make sure the voters who are least vested in local schools weigh in.

The school board gave preliminary authorization for a $12,000 survey of about 400 residents Monday night. The survey will specifically try to reach voters who do not have children in the district or work for the school district.

That's the audience that was least represented over the course of three public forums on the pending referendum.

Those recent forums featured about 360 attendees. Nearly 70 percent of the attendees favored a $50 million plan to build a new Thompson Middle School. But more than 60 percent also said they would support a $35 million plan that would preserve the most modern section of the current Thompson school while the rest is razed to build new.

In both options, Haines Middle School will be closed and torn down to save about $2.4 million a year. That will result in two middle schools, a revamped Wredling and a new, or mostly new Thompson, with the capacity to host 1,400 students each. District officials want to close Haines to address declining enrollment and save money in the face of possible school funding reductions from the state.

The majority of school board members said they favored, are leaning toward or at least would support moving forward with the $35 million proposal as soon as this November.

The final decision of how much to ask for, and when, will await the results of the survey. With the green light in place, the survey should take about three or four weeks to complete.

Missouri-based Unicom ARC, which specializes in educational polling, will handle the survey. Rodney Wright, the company's president, said surveying residents who do not have children in district schools is key. They represent about 71 percent of the voting public in most school districts, he said.

Superintendent Don Schlomann said that means the results should be heavily factored in any final call on putting a referendum on the ballot.

"If the numbers come back, and they are weak, don't go (for a referendum)," Schlomann said. "I've been in situations where the board was a 'yes' and the community was a 'no,' and we got pounded for that."

The survey won't be able to officially proceed until the full school board takes a vote to spend the $12,000 at their next meeting.

Board member Lori Linkimer said she will oppose the survey. She said she believes the $12,000 could be better spent in classrooms.