Patron Insight forecasts much better than average

A recent review of school bond elections on the website ‘ballotpedia’ shows Missouri school districts have a success rate of 72% on bond issues– squarely in line with the total average for the 10 states studied, which was  just short of 76%. Washington State voters were the most supportive at 92% while those in Illinois were the least enthusiastic, as just over 41% passed in the first six months of the year

Patron Insight clients in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Iowa have been successful at the ballot box over 90% of the time. Overall predictability for Patron Insight is at 98%, meaning Patron Insight bond election surveys have correctly predicted election outcomes 98% of the time.

http://ballotpedia.us/wiki/index.php/School_Bond_and_Tax_Election_Statistics,_2010

Would you retire Ronald McDonald?

There’s a movement afoot to force McDonald’s into “retiring” Ronald McDonald. An organization called Corporate Accountability has gotten over 10,000 people to sign a petition to oust the clown because “he encourages children to eat unhealthy food.”

Alfred David Klinger, a volunteer and retired physician, said, “Ronald McDonald is a pied piper drawing youngsters all over the world to food that is high in fat, sodium and calories. On the surface, Ronald is there to give children enjoyment in all sorts of way with toys, games and food. But Ronald McDonald is dangerous, sending insidious messages to young people.”

If you were CEO of McDonald’s, how would you respond?

Better yet, what would you do if your patrons rose up and asked you to eliminate a key element of your school district’s brand, such as a mascot that was beloved, but is now thought to be offensive?

We’d love to hear your comments.

Kansas legislature removes the knife, but the wound remains

After much posturing and public hand-wringing to provide cover, the Kansas Legislature finally did the right thing by passing a short-term increase in the state sales tax to begin to fill the gaping hole in the state’s budget. Cooler heads finally decided that school districts across the state had done their part (and way more) and that it was time for the elected leaders to do just that – lead, no matter what the electoral consequences.

We have said time and again that patrons of the school districts we serve are saying that they don’t want to give back generations of progress in their public schools in this economic downtown. They recognize that the school districts have cut meat and have – in most cases – reached bone. Enough was enough.

This will hardly make the school districts in Kansas whole again, of course. But, in thinking about the apt metaphor, it would seem to be that the Legislature’s decision means that rather than twist the knife that had been inserted, they removed it. The wound is fresh, painful and will be long in healing. But, at least it appears that the life-threatening bleeding has been stopped for now.

What school districts can learn from the Gulf oil spill.

Here’s a really good article from Harvard Business Review talking about the need for community relations to be an accurate reflection of an entity’s true substance:

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/05/bp_victim_of_its_own_good_mark.html

For school districts, this means making sure that patron perception is a realistic reflection of your brand.

Bentonville uses strategy to turn 60% “no” into 60% “yes”

One of the most common questions we receive after conducting a pre-election research study for a school district is, “How much movement, in terms of the number of supporters, is realistic to expect, if we run a great campaign?”

The answer is not a simple percentage, but rather a combination of factors. How much time is there between now and Election Day? How deep is the hole that the district needs to climb out of, in terms of the level of support? Are there other circumstances that will add to the challenge – such as patrons expressing doubts about the abilities of the district’s Administration or Board of Education?

In the best of situations, the biggest challenge is usually time. Moving apathetic voters into the “yes” column, and swinging enough “soft negative” folks to the positive isn’t something that’s easily accomplished in a few weeks. Our client, the Bentonville, Arkansas School District, knows that well.

They ran a millage election in 2008, only to have 60% of the patrons vote “no.” We were called in early last year to find out why, and the results suggested that a large percentage of patrons simply didn’t know enough about the proposal or why it was necessary. So, they either stayed away or voted “no.”

The district spent the entire year between the receipt of those results and Election Day this April trying to inform patrons and change minds, and it worked in a big way – a 20% swing from the negative to the positive.

Superintendent Dr. Gary Compton credits the win on the strategy of creating a campaign committee with two distinct segments – one that dealt with parent and staff voters, and one that worked on getting the word out to non-district parents and non-staff members.

These leadership team “bombarded the patrons with facts,” says Dr. Compton. Their tactics included the traditional approaches (such as neighborhood coffee meetings and lots of direct mail), but also made active use of social media to spread the word and answer questions. The key, he says, was to keep disseminating information and keep the message fresh so that patrons kept paying attention.

Congratulations to Dr. Compton and his campaign team on their great success. Turning 20% of the patrons to the positive is an accomplishment anytime, but particularly in the current economy.

Advertising on school busses as a revenue enhancer? Oklahoma’s considering it.

The Oklahoma State Legislature is considering a measure that would allow school districts in the state to join their brethren in other states and sell advertising on the outside of their school busses. In cash-strapped times, it’s an idea whose time has come. Or has it? Read about it for yourself and weigh in: http://bit.ly/dCUiZJ

We can see the revenue pros and the cons. What about you?

Budget challenges bigger than a bake sale.

School districts push out so much information to their patrons, often wondering what is being heard and what goes in one ear and out the other. The current budget challenges are a prime example of how difficult this situation really can be.

Case in point: Recent research we’ve conducted on behalf of school districts shows a good level of awareness of the financial maelstrom that’s taking place right now, and even some specific awareness of steps that school districts are taking to address the issue. That’s the good news.

The bad news is one of the patrons’ solutions – mentioned more often than you might like to hear – is for the school district to “conduct fundraisers.” That’s right; the path to financial stability is dotted with sales of trash bags, cookie dough and wrapping paper, according to a meaningful segment of school district patrons.

This isn’t to criticize either the patrons – their hearts are in the right place – or the school districts, whose leaders are trying their best to get the word out. It’s just a wake-up call that you can never, ever be too repetitive on complicated matters such as budget woes.

Local leadership trumps state government. Again.

It’s all been very frustrating, hasn’t it?

Elected officials have thrown up their hands and said to school districts, “There’s nothing more we can do…you’ll just have to cut more,” thereby tearing down the educational accomplishments of generations in just one legislative session.

(Although, to be fair, Gov. Parkinson in Kansas did propose a short-term sales tax to help, which was quickly dismissed, and he has at least proposed throwing up a stop sign on more cuts. But the severe damage has already been done.)

So, it appears that the courage on this issue will, once again, have to come from the local level, where patrons consider their schools to be the foundations of their great communities.

If you’re not sure if your patrons would support a tax increase, let’s ask them. With the heightened awareness of everything school districts have been doing to cut (with those cuts now hurting the classroom product) I suspect you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the answer.