A survey commissioned by the Anchorage School District found that most voters who typically support school bonds said no to April's $49.3 million proposition because of Alaska's fiscal situation and the lack of matching funds from the state.
The Anchorage School Board reviewed the results at a work session Monday and discussed with administrators how the district should move forward with fixing its buildings, and other capital improvements.
Heidi Embley, school district spokeswoman, said the district paid Anchorage-based Hays Research Group $11,316 for the survey. Its findings were based on phone interviews with 600 registered voters — 46 percent said they supported the school bond proposition, 47 percent said they didn't and the rest either didn't know or refused to answer.
The survey found that women, younger voters and single people were most likely to vote for school bonds. It found no correlation between people's incomes and their votes on the proposition.
Aside from matching funds and the state's finances, voters said they did not vote for the proposition because they did not trust the school district and the school board. Some said the bond's total price tag was too high. A few said that they were upset that the school board did not renew Ed Graff's superintendent contract.
"The city is broke and we have to start saving somewhere," said one respondent.
"I don't trust the school board because they kicked out Graff and they don't listen," said another, according to the survey.
April's school bond proposition would have funded roof replacements, sprinkler systems, security camera upgrades, school buses and more. It failed by 229 votes — a 49.78 percent to a 50.22 percent split. The last time a school bond failed was in 2011 when the school district had three bonds on the ballot and voters passed only one.
Tom Roth, school district chief operating officer, said the district depends on voters passing bond propositions so that it can pay for major maintenance projects. Without money to complete those projects, Roth said, "the possibility or probability that systems could fail increases."
Roth told the school board on Monday that there were several directions the district could take to maintain its buildings.
He said the district could submit a bond proposal for the November election or wait until the April 2017 municipal election. It could look into a ballot measure that would ask voters to increase the mill rate, which could create a consistent source of revenue for maintenance.
It could also look into financing from the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. or put more money into its major maintenance account, Roth said. That account has about $1.12 million in next school year's budget, according to Andy Ratliff, executive director of the school district's office of management and budget.
Of the voters surveyed by Hays Research Group, 48.5 percent said they would support the idea of putting a similar school bond proposal on the November ballot while 34.3 percent said they would not support it. The rest didn't know or refused to answer. Surveyors did not ask voters specifically about any of the other options presented Monday.
The school board will not decide on a course of action until next month, according to Roth's timeline presented Monday.