Surveys on District Budget Shortfalls
1. What are Budget Shortfall Surveys?
These are two surveys that district leaders can deploy in their district to
consult everyone on how to go about meeting the challenge of a budget
shortfall.
2. Who is surveying whom?
School administrators have the option to survey one or more of the following
groups: teachers, principals, students and parents.
3. What are the benefits of these surveys?
The
CommunityConsult survey allows you to list all areas of your school
operations and ask respondents to rate how strongly they feel about a cut in
each area. This information positions district leaders to confidently
approach the difficult task of decreasing funds for various programs.
The second Budget Shortfall Survey challenges students, teachers and
principals to identify creative ways in which the district can save
resources. You’ll be surprised by the sheer creativity and ingenuity of your
school community.
In tandem, these surveys drive home the message that the district leadership
is coping with a severe budget shortfall. They build solidarity and support
for the leadership as it embarks on the difficult challenge of working with
a significantly reduced budget. Through these surveys, you as a district
leader, give every member of the district community an opportunity to give
their input, something appreciated by everyone.
4. If my district runs these surveys, what do we get at the end?
We will give you reports that instantly allow you to see how respondents
feel on each issue. We will provide you with a score on how strongly survey
respondents oppose cuts to each area.
5. What else does the district get?
The surveys are deployed online – (offline deployment is available but
costlier). K12
Insight will manage all the logistics of the surveys. We
will program the surveys, customize their look & feel, launch the surveys, send
out email invitations and reminders as needed, field questions from survey
participants, etc. At the end of the survey we will create your reports and make
them available to you in presentation-ready format in addition to providing you
real-time reports.
6. How long after the survey do I get my reports?
Reports will be made available to you in real time the very day your survey
is launched. As more responses come in, the data will refresh and you will be
able to see the results. Presentation reports will be available within 2 weeks
of the closing of each survey.
7. So I understand the survey will be online, but will it be sent via email or
just posted as a link on the district’s website?
That is for you to decide. If you have email addresses, we highly recommend
sending email invitations. If you do not have email addresses for
participants, we can provide a link on the website.
8. Can some survey respondents do “ballot-box stuffing” and skew the data by
responding multiple times?
If we invite respondents by email, each respondent is allowed only one
response. If you post the link on your district’s website, we can issue
passwords which work only once. This will ensure integrity of your survey
data. However, you will need a mechanism by which you distribute the
passwords to survey respondents.
9. Can I see these questionnaires?
You may click the following links to access the
Community Consult Survey and the
Efficient Schools Survey.
10. Can my district customize these surveys?
Yes, a limited amount of customization is both necessary as well as
permitted. Your district can add or remove categories referred to in these
surveys so the survey is 100% relevant to your district. You may also add up to
5 absolutely new questions pertaining to your district.
11. What is all this going to cost the school district?
As a special year-end promotion, we are offering these surveys at a low price of $2,500 for the each survey. You will not see any other bills from us. This price is for the entire district, irrespective of district size.
12. Who owns the rights to the questionnaires?
K12
Insight has developed both these questionnaires and owns the copyright.
13. If we deploy by paper, how much will it cost?
The printing and data entry expense will get added to the total cost. This
addition will depend on the number of respondents who participate in the
survey. If this option is of interest to you, we will be happy to give you
further details.
14. If we deploy by phone, how much will it cost?
The surveys can be done via a dial-in phone number that you can distribute
to survey participants. Two additional costs will be incurred: Cost of
programming the phone survey and cost of minutes used. The total cost will
depend on the number of respondents. If this option is of interest to you,
we will be happy to discuss it in more detail.
15. I am ready to send my PO number, who do I contact?
Click
here to download an order and instruction form.
16. One last question – I have never heard of K12 Insight, I would like to
check references.
Good question. K12
Insight has been serving America’s public schools
since 2002 and provides a comprehensive, systemic and district-wide survey
solution to over 100 districts across the United States ranging from a few
hundred students to over hundred thousand students. The company has partnered
with leading organizations such as Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS),
American Association of School Administrators (AASA) and several of AASA’s state
affiliates. A complete list is provided
here. Several testimonials can be viewed
on the company’s website
by
clicking here. If you would still like to speak with
an existing client, please email us at
