LETTER FROM RICE UNIVERSITY POLLSTER TO LEONARD MERRELL FEBRUARY 2006:

Letter to Dr. Leonard Merrell, Katy ISD Superintendent

From:  Stephanie Post and Robert Stein

Re:  Survey of registered voters in Katy ISD

Date:  February 2, 2006

 At the request of the Katy Independent School District Robert Stein, Rice University, Richard Murray, University of Houston and Stephanie Post, conducted a survey of registered voters residing in the Katy Independent School District.  The survey examined public opinion about current district personnel, operations and practices and support for a proposed bond initiative.  Telephone interviews were conducted with 501 registered voters between January 25 and 28, 2006.  Interviews were conducted by the University of Houston Center for Public Policy.  The error rate for this survey is +/- 4.5%.  Below we summarize the major findings of this survey.  Attached is a copy of the survey instrument and survey responses. 

Perceptions about Katy Independent School District

     *  The modal response to the question "what in your opinion is the biggest problem facing the Katy Independent Schools" is growth in the district. Two-fifths (40%) of registered voters in the district identified "growth" and "overcrowding" as the biggest problem facing the district.  No other problem was identified by more than 7% of respondents.

     *  The district receives positive ratings (i.e., excellent or good) from a majority of registered voters for six different aspects of the district:  teaching staff, school principals and administrators, safety, educational services, buildings and dealing with increased enrollments.  Dealing with increased school enrollments receives the lowest favorable rating.

     *  Overall, the district receives a positive rating from 90% of the district's registered voters.

     *  A majority of district voters trust the district's personnel (i.e., teachers, administrators, superintendent and the school board) to "do what is right" for the district most of the time.

     *  One-third of district voters believe the quality of education in the Katy Independent School District has improved over the last three years.  An additional 46% believe the quality of education in the district has remained unchanged.  Only 14% believe educational quality was [sic] gotten worse.

     *An overwhelming majority (93%) of respondents recognize that the number of students attending Katy schools has increased over the last two years.

Support for new bond initiative

     *Nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents said they would endorse the Katy School District taking on more debt in the form of bonds if they knew it would not raise their property taxes."

     *Sixty-three percent of respondents said they would support a no-tax increase bond initiative of $370 million.  Only 17% said they would oppose this bond initiative.  Seven percent said they would not vote in the bond election and 13% were undecided.

     * Voters who indicated they were opposed to or undecided about the $370 million bond initiative were asked if they would still oppose the bond initiative if they knew:

~That without the new bond money, the Katy Independent School District would eventually have extremely over crowed [sic] schools.  An additional 2% (N=10) of our respondents said they would support the bond initiative.

~That without the new bond money, the Katy Independent School District may have to rezone the existing attendance boundaries.  An additional .6% (N=3) of our respondents said they would support the bond initiative.

~The modal reason respondents gave for voting against the bond issue were [sic] the district does not spend its money wisely.

* Voters who indicated they supported the $370 million bond initiative were asked if they would still support the bond initiative if they knew:

~That an increase in the school district's debt could decrease funds available for day to day programs and operations.  Support for the bond issue declined by 12% (N=60).

~That an increase in the school district's debt could impair its instructional program.  Support for the bond issue declined by 24% (N=122).

Support for changes in the school district operations

*When asked "if the Katy Independent School District had to make significant cuts what would you cut," the most frequent responses were:  extracurricular activities (24%) and 'new construction' (20%).

*The primary sources of information for district residents about the Katy school district are Neighbors, friends and relatives (22%) and weekly area newspaper (22%).

* Nearly 75% of district voters reported using a computer to visit the Katy School District web page.

*87% of the district's voters rated the information they received from the district as either 'very helpful' or 'helpful.'