BUTLER TWP — The Butler School District’s consolidation review committee Tuesday afternoon looked at the results of staff, parent and taxpayer surveys, in advance of a final discussion next week.

The After-Action Review Committee was created to analyze the impact of the change. The consolidation, which took place over the summer of 2015, closed four elementary schools and reopened the Center Avenue school as a special needs and alternative school.

The community survey was aimed at taxpayers in the district without children attending a school. Out of 36,000 taxpayers, slightly more than 1 percent contributed to the survey, with only 313 individuals completing every question.

Only 12 percent of respondents believe a higher school tax is needed with the remaining saying taxes are at an appropriate level or too high.

About 54 percent said that if taxes had to be raised, they would prefer increases to be steady and low each year rather than moderate increases every couple of years or even larger increases more infrequently.

Of about 5,400 parents, only 696 completed the entire survey. Responses were sorted based on school building.

For both the parent and staff surveys, responses were based on five options of highly satisfied, satisfied, somewhat satisfied, dissatisfied and highly dissatisfied. “Don’t Know” was a sixth option.

Mary Wolf, assistant superintendent of elementary education, categorized answers from “somewhat satisfied” up to “highly satisfied” as generally positive remarks.

Parent responses showed 70 to 94 percent satisfaction with how teachers work with parents to meet children’s needs. Similarly, parents expressed 83 to 94 percent satisfaction with technology use in the classroom.

However, parent satisfaction responses were much lower on cafeteria food.

When asked whether food served is fresh and high quality, only 40 percent to 57 percent were satisfied. Breakfast options also proved unsatisfactory. Asked whether the breakfast provides healthy choices, 17 to 57 percent of parents were satisfied, with many school buildings scoring in the range of mid-20 to 30 percent.

Parents also seemed concerned about the availability of special education, counseling for students, and before and after school care.

A survey sent to staff members had 390 respondents complete all questions out of 912 staff members.

When asked about sufficient space available for students who may need individualized instruction, satisfaction ranged dramatically.

While staff members at the Center Avenue Community School were 100 percent satisfied with the space, only 25 percent of staff at Center Township Elementary School were. Other schools with low satisfaction rates on that question included the senior high school at 34 percent and Summit Elementary School at 44 percent.

Another question with heavy variability in teacher satisfaction asked how readily available technology is for classroom instruction.

At Center Avenue, 100 percent of respondents were satisfied. For all other buildings, there was a range from 33 percent at Center Township to 92 percent at Butler Middle School, with many other answers falling in the 40 to 70 percent range.

Wolf said that she analyzed the data and identified areas where the staff is not happy. More opportunities for professional development and technology advances were concerns.

“Technology is a huge (concern). That is the highest weighted concern that I’ve found,” Wolf said. “Things like training and technology, they’re all related to funding. My understanding is that there has been a lack of professional development, and that doesn’t surprise me that that’s what they’re looking for.”

Staff members at the senior high school were only 55 percent satisfied with the teacher-to-student ratio, but all other school buildings had satisfaction ratings at 80 percent or higher.

All buildings had at least 90 percent satisfaction when asked about effective safety precautions.

The staff survey was possibly the most positive, according to Wolf.

“I think the staff survey overall was generally the most positive of the three surveys,” Wolf said.

Superintendent Dale Lumley stressed that even if particularly happy or unhappy people took the survey, the data would still show the general trends.

“Some people, by the way, are very hard to satisfy so if they’re somewhat satisfied, that may be as good as it gets,” Lumley said.

In addition to survey results, the district administration presented final, updated data.

Excluding special education bus routes, about 74 percent of overall bus routes have run times at 45 minutes or less. Only 4 percent of runs are more than 60 minutes, according to Debby Croft, supervisor of transportation.

Deborah Brandstetter, director of business services, also presented birth data, which is used to predict future enrollment.

Based on this information, the district projects 437 students enrolling in kindergarten next year, 492 in 2017-18 and 456 in 2018-19. This year’s kindergarten class has 425 enrolled.

Brandstetter also said the district had enrollment of about 8,400 in 2003-04. It is now 6,800.

Lumley also presented data on attendance and tardiness specifically for students who changed elementary schools during consolidation. In general, the data showed that attendance of those students has increased from last school year.

“The consolidation has not negatively impacted attendance,” he said.

Lumley said this may be attributed to the fact that many of the students who changed elementary schools now ride buses, which may guarantee they can make it to school.

On Tuesday, the committee will discuss the data and the survey results as well what to do with the remaining closed buildings: Broad Street, Clearfield and Oakland elementary schools. That final meeting will be at 4:30 p.m. at the Harriger Educational Services Center, 110 Campus Lane.