Jordan District residents oppose tax, class-size increases

A poll commissioned by Jordan School District to help the west-side school board make budget decisions shows the public wants to have its cake and eat it, too.

The majority of the people polled are adamantly against increasing class sizes or cutting school programs. And they aren't exactly keen on the idea of a major property tax increase either.

Dan Jones & Associates interviewed 408 west-side residents between April 29 and May 6. There was a 5 percent margin of error.

"The survey results are providing us with information so we can make decisions that will take us in the direction the public wants to go," said board president Peggy Jo Kennett.

Sixty percent of those polled said they would definitely or probably be willing to pay more in taxes, in general, to help fund district schools.

However, when another question posed the specific idea of a 33 percent property-tax increase from about $338 per year to $451 a year on a $100,000 home, residents weren't so willing. Twenty-eight percent rated increasing property taxes as "not at all acceptable," according to the survey.

The poll shows 68 percent don't want to increase the number of students in a classroom, while 70 percent said they don't want to see school programs such as reading specialists and school counselors eliminated or reduced, either.

Fifty-nine percent favor the idea of reducing some administrative and non-teaching staff if budget cuts are imminent, according to the survey.

The board has been working to trim $17 million from its $300 million budget since March, in addition to the $8 million the district split is costing.

In November 2007, east-side residents voted to leave Jordan district and form their own school district. The Jordan district division will be official July 1, with the west side remaining as Jordan District, and the newly named Canyons School District existing on the east side.

School districts must approve their 2009-2010 budgets by June 30.

Ongoing state support for public education has been reduced by 16 percent, representing a loss of $412 million, according to state education budget officials.

To date, $198 million has come to public education through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Michelle Jorgensen, a first-grade teacher at Mountain Shadows Elementary School in West Jordan, is keeping close tabs on the board's budget decisions.