Canyons School District wants input on bond issue

Canyons School District leaders know how parents feel about the new district via a public opinion poll. Now, the district will do another survey to see how people feel about bond debt.

Parents want smaller classes and an emphasis on academic basics, especially math. But they also believe art, music and field trips are important, according to a survey the district had Dan Jones & Associates conduct.

District officials plan to meet with Jones' representatives to formulate bond-related questions, some of which will likely pertain to property taxes, growth plans and other budgetary issues.

"It's no secret we have major capital facilities needs in this district. The schools are aging. We have some growth issues that need to be addressed," Canyons District Superintendent Dave Doty said. "The scope of what needs to be done is much larger than can be done with the current cash on hand."

The bond, if issued, could be in 2010 or thereafter, he said. "There are a lot of questions still to be answered before we can make that decision." Doty declined to give a range of a proposed bond amount.

Pending Canyons School Board approval, the district intends to poll about bonding in the next eight to 10 weeks and will solicit opinions from households that may or may not have children in school, unlike the previous survey.

The first poll, which cost $25,000, was to gauge opinions on everything from teacher quality to honors classes.

"As we took our first steps, we wanted to find out if we were headed in the right direction," said Canyons District spokesman Jeff Haney.

The poll results will guide board members in future decisions, he said.

The majority of parents surveyed said they have a somewhat or very favorable impression of Canyons District so far. The district began operations in July.

On a scale of one to five, with one being poor and five being excellent, 50 percent of parents rated the quality of teachers as a four. The poll showed 36 percent rated appropriate class sizes as a three, and 56 percent said class size is an extremely important issue to them.

A majority of parents indicated field trips, service opportunities and additional instruction from outside experts are important or very important, as are music and art programs.

A total of 55 percent of parents said they voted for splitting from the Jordan School District to a create the new district, which occurred as the result of a November 2007 election.

Jones & Associates contacted 1,209 parents between April 21 and May 14, approximately 300 per high-school boundary. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 2.8 percent.

Most of the poll participants were ages 30 to 49, have a college degree or higher and an annual household income of more than $80,000.

e-mail: astewart@desnews.com

TWITTER: AKStewDesNews