Approximate Numbers and Percents
1: Number of votes each board member and each superintendent has (same as public).
25: Approximate percent of citizens who have kids in school.
20: Percent who will likely vote against anything.
30-40-30: Energize 30% positive, focus on 40% undecided, and don't worry about the 30% negative. Some literature uses 40-40-20.
30: Percent of attrition to expect.
12: Minimum number of months needed to plan for a referendum.
0: Number of months when no planning occurs after board approves referendum.
25: Percent to discount for male voters.
30-50: Number needed on the facility planning or feasibility study committee.
10-15: Number needed on the steering committee (includes subcommittee chairpersons).
6-8: Number of subcommittees needed.
150-250: Number of volunteers needed for a PAC.
50%+1: Number of voters needed to win!
1-2: Number of months needed to complete needs assessment.
6: Number of months for facility planning committee to make recommendation to board. This process should not be rushed. Allow sufficient time for those who live in the community to develop consensus.
200-400: Number of face-to-face contacts to have with community leaders (begin as soon as needs are identified).
6-8: Number of weeks for campaigning (active and visible part).
12-5 & 5-11: One successful Indiana referendum reported by FAIR received board approval in December, 2010 and had the election in May 2011. Two other successful Indiana referenda received board approval in May, 2011 and had the election in November, 2011. The visible or active parts of the campaigns were six to eight weeks in length.
2-4: Number of weeks prior to an election for displaying signs,
3-6: The number of months prior to election for polling (if only one is done)
3-14: Number of minutes for a survey (One consultant reported twelve as maximum)
3-5: Number of days per week for door-to-door canvasing during campaign (include Saturday mornings)
1: Number of days for the election
100: Percent of principals who should be ramping up their ongoing communications and bringing meaning (within legal guidelines) to the referendum process in the school's attendance area.
25: Percent of time superintendents should be involved in networking with the community. For
clarification, many of the networking activities are held within the school corporation.
Suggested guidelines are meant to be approximate. No two superintendents, boards of education, or communities are exactly alike. No two plans ever follow guidelines exactly. Everything has to be tailored to the circumstances as plans develop.