Nearly 60 Percent of New Rochelle Respondents Feel Preserving Class Size is Most Critical

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The and Board of Education report today that close to 60% of those who completed the second annual School Budget Survey feel that preserving current class size is most critical.  

Those who took the survey were given the choice of deeming certain programs or aspects of the educational system 1) Essential and critical, 2) Very important, 3) Good to have, but not essential and 4) Not important enough to preserve in a time of fiscal constraint.  

57.1% of survey respondents deem class size as essential and critical to the school district’s mission.  Other findings from the survey reveal:

• 536 respondents in all completed the survey: 75% were parents or guardians of a current school age student while just over 21% were community members without a child in school.
• 56.5% feel that preserving AP Classes and other advanced/honors classes is essential and critical.
• Having up-to-date technology in the classrooms was most critical to 46.7% of respondents.
• Tracking almost identical to last year, 77.5% of respondents have been regular voters in school board elections in the last 10 years.  

When asked what motivates them to go to the polls for a school budget vote:

• 52.2% said they are most motivated by the desire to maintain a high quality school system.  
• 21% said they are most motivated by the potential for their taxes to be raised or lowered.  

The district added a new question to the survey this year in an attempt to find out the extent of awareness about the property tax cap that will go into effect next year.  Results are as follows:

• The greatest number of respondents at 38.5% said they know about the tax cap and realize it is going to require that choices be made.  
• 31.3% said they have heard something about it but don’t know specifics
• 20.1% said they fully understand the cap and its ramifications

“It was our belief even before the survey results came in that as part of the budget process this year, we are going to need to spend some time educating the public about the tax cap and the impact it will have on the school district as well as the community at large,” said Richard Organisciak, Superintendent of Schools.  “The results of the survey certainly demonstrate that our thinking was correct and we will focus on covering this topic in the weeks ahead.”

The district and Board of Education will begin a series of live broadcasts and webcasts of Community Budget Forums on cable and the district website tonight  at 7p.m. from the library at .  

“We are delighted that once again, so many members of the New Rochelle community took the time to fill out the survey,” said Chrisanne Petrone, President, Board of Education. “The Board looks forward to being further engaged with the community in the school budget process as our work on the 2012-2013 school budget moves forward.”

Subsequent live broadcasts of School Budget Review Sessions will take place on March 8th, 13th and 20th from the library at New Rochelle High School.  The events will all begin at 7:00pm and will be viewable on NRED-TV at Cablevision Channel 77, Verizon Channel 30 and on the District’s website at www.nred.org.