Poll Results Good News to Schools

In its search for the best way to put forth a bond measure to voters in the November election, the Las Virgenes Unified School District received encouraging news and advice from a marketing consultant.

Gene Bregman, of Gene Bregman & Associates, told the school board Monday that 74% of “very frequent voters” polled recently by telephone thought the district was doing an excellent or good job.

“That’s about as high as I’ve seen it in 30 districts in years,” he said. “It’s an excellent base. People are more willing to give money to districts if they feel the district is doing well with the money they’ve got.”

Bregman also warned district officials that the survey showed they might be more successful if the level of property tax assessments were lowered.

Bregman said the survey revealed that 66% of voters would support a tax of $44 per $100,000 of assessed property value per year, while 73% would support a lower assessment of $24 per $100,000.

The bad news for the district came when Bregman noted that 47% of the Republican men and 60% of GOP women polled supported a bond, while 79% of registered Democrats gave it their support.

To pass a bond, the district would need a two-thirds majority vote.

According to the survey, 52% of the district’s voters are registered Republicans, while 41% are Democrats. Only 35% of those polled were parents of children in the public school system.

“The vast majority of our voting group are non-parents,” said Donald Zimring, assistant superintendent of business. “A lot of our parents think that if we just get out the vote, we’ll be OK. But of our parents, the majority are not registered voters.”

The board is expected to meet before the July 3 ballot deadline to finish the wording of the measure.