Have you considered the similarities between playing golf and passing a bond issue?
In golf, there is quite a bit of information you need to know before teeing off on the first hole. Some of that information is visual. You can see the fairway and (often) see the green. The flag on the green might tell you how the wind is blowing and from what direction.
Furthermore, the tee marker will tell you how long the hole is, and your scorecard might have a miniature map of the shapes of the fairways.
Once you are ready to tee off, you might need to remember your setup and swing – your grip, alignment, stance, posture, swing plane, and club speed before you hit the ball. And there’s always the threat of completely blowing it, while you’re playing partners watch. Ugh.
This is a lot of information to sift through and digest.
The point is golf requires a lot of data, preparation, and practice.
The school district superintendent contemplating a referendum is in the same boat. To pass a bond issue, you need to know how your patrons feel about you, what they think you are good at and not so good at, what they want from the district, and how they would rate you, compared to other districts.
Additionally, you need to know what new initiatives patrons think are important and mission critical versus a pipe dream – and what they are willing to pay for those initiatives.
Finally, you need to know how patrons get their information about the district.
Whew! Like for your golf game, that’s a lot of information to gather and process.
Most of that information you won’t know in advance, if you are just relying on what you see and hear from your fans and detractors. You need to hear from all your patrons months ahead of your bond issue, so you can prepare your ballot wording and start to put together your campaign.
And you better know what and how much to ask for if you want to win at the ballot box. There are no mulligans for a referendum.
At ExcellenceK12, we have 16 years of experience of working with more than 150 school districts and raising more than $8 billion in new revenue.
Call us at 913-484-0920, and we’ll help you tee it up.
