History of NEXUS Funding and Cloverleaf Schools
We first learned about the potential of NEXUS pipeline funding in 2016. Cloverleaf was told at that time the combination of the pipeline and compressor station could generate $5.4 million in the first year for our school district (the funding would decrease 3.3 percent per year until it reached a 15 percent floor level).
Understanding the potential this funding could have for our schools, the Cloverleaf Board of Education knew it had to gauge the prevailing sentiment of our Cloverleaf community on its desire for how we utilize this new funding source. To that end, in December 2017, the board contracted with a research firm: Futuristics Inc., based in Reading, Penn. Futuristics specializes in statistically significant community surveys. In our case, a random-stratified sample of registered Cloverleaf voters was created. This means a relatively equal proportion of all 10 Cloverleaf villages and townships would receive the survey and a random number generator would be used to determine who would actually be invited to take the survey.
After working through the board of education’s finance committee, a number of edits to the survey were made, culminating in a finished product that was administered to 1,011 community residents in September 2019. We received a 28.6 percent response rate which, I am told, is in the average response rate range for this type of survey. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.
Survey Results
The entire survey is available by clicking one of the links below. However, here is a summary of a few of the significant findings:
- 70.6 percent of the survey respondents do NOT currently have children in our schools.
- 81.6 percent of the respondents indicated they WILL support all four renewal levies we have upcoming on the ballot over the next six years (2020, 2023, 2024 and 2025).
- Asked how we should utilize NEXUS funding, the largest percentage of respondents (given four possible choices) feel we should use the funding for a construction project and would support a new operations levy in 2022 or 2023.
- Asked what type of construction project the district should undertake, the largest percentage stated we should renovate the current high school, turn it into a middle school, and build a new high school behind the current middle school. (We would then demolish the current middle school.)
The Future
Subsequent to the survey results, we learned from the Medina County Auditor that the NEXUS valuation for year one is now $7.4 million, not $5.4 million (subject to any appeals filed by NEXUS by Dec. 6, 2019). We likely have a NEXUS funding scenario where we can do a construction project that conforms to the will of our residents and will go well past 2023 before needing to consider any additional operations revenue.
Thank you for taking the time to review the results of this community survey. We will continue to share information on NEXUS funding as details become available.
Sincerely,
Daryl Kubilus
Superintendent
Cloverleaf Local Schools
Please click one of the links below for the full results of the 2019 Cloverleaf Community Survey.