School district confidence down

MAT-SU -- Just above 57 percent of registered voters polled on the performance of the local school district said they had confidence in the district's overall performance, a decline of more than 25 percent from the last time a district poll was conducted in 2002. Ivan Moore Research contacted 384 borough residents via phone in February to ask them how they felt about the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. The confidence in the district in almost all areas "declined heavily," according to the poll's executive summary. Chief school administrator Bob Doyle said he was not surprised.

"You can't go through 14 months of negotiations without having people get really frustrated," Doyle said. "It has been a huge distraction. This is a message that both sides need to sit down and work through these issues like adults."

Doyle was referencing the drawn-out battle between the district and the Matanuska-Susitna Education Association over teacher contract negotiations, which was finally settled in February. Doyle said he hopes the poll will help with negotiations in the future, reminding both the district and MSEA that the public expects both teams to work through issues in a more reasonable fashion.

Other confidence votes are as follows:

79. 5 percent have a lot/moderate confidence in the district's teachers, a 9.6 percent decline.

45. 3 percent have a lot/moderate confidence in the district's schools, a 14.6 percent decline.

37. 1 percent have a lot/moderate confidence in the district's leadership, a 24.7 percent decline.

61.9 percent have a lot/moderate confidence in the district's reading, writing and arithmetic programs, a 16.3 percent decline.

85.5 percent have a lot/moderate confidence in the district's school safety, a 0.3 percent decline.

Of those surveyed, 50.2 percent said they feel the district is on the wrong track, 43.9 percent said the district was doing OK, and 5.9 percent were undecided. Thirty five percent of those surveyed were parents of children who attend school in the district.

On a more positive note, the second part of the survey dealing with education funding and taxes showed support for increasing education funding throughout the state.

"People are basically saying there probably really is a fiscal gap and we need to do something about it," Doyle said.

Fifty-eight percent felt the state funding for education should increase, 58.5 percent felt the district's education funding should increase and 55.2 percent said the current education funding is insufficient. Fifty percent would support an income tax, 60.4 percent would support a sales tax and 37.1 percent would support the use of the permanent fund if these actions resulted in adequate funding for Mat-Su schools.

"I think people have gotten to the point that we have cut enough," Doyle said. "It shows progress, maybe we are finally getting the word out to the people."

Contact Jen Ransom at jen.ransom@frontiersman.com.