Lawrence School Supt. Randy Weseman says a lot of work still needs to be done to convince voters to approve a $59 million school bond issue on April 1.

“I see that this is an uphill fight. There’s a lot of information that needs to be given out,” Weseman said Thursday morning.

He said he wasn’t sure whether voters would approve the bond issue if they were casting their votes now.

“If it were held today. I don’t know. The information campaign is just beginning,” he said. “It’s certainly more likely for it to be defeated if the information isn’t out there.”

Weseman said those favoring the bond issue are “behind the curve” and have their work cut out to convince voters.

“I see its success being determined by our ability to get people information and their ability to give some of their time to hear the information and evaluate it,” he said. “I’m certainly more optimistic today than I was two days ago.”

Weseman is in an interesting position.

As superintendent, Weseman says he can’t take a position on the bond issue.

“My role in this is to provide information to the public. I don’t take a formal position. I can’t,” he said.

That’s because a Kansas attorney general’s opinion says school board members can speak in favor or against ballot issues, but administrators must remain neutral, Weseman said.

However, Weseman has been going out to speak to groups to explain the school district’s needs, how Lawrence fits into the state school finance picture and what the bond issue would mean to the district.

During a presentation to staffers from 6News, the Journal-World and World Online this week, Weseman needed about 40 minutes to run through the information.

The sheer volume of information people will have to absorb may hamper the bond issue’s prospects, he told the gathering at the News Center.

“I think it could be a situation where it would have to fail and come back again,” he said.

“It’s going to take awhile to educate people,” Weseman said. “… I’m an eternal optimist. But this is a pretty big plan. And it’s pretty complex to get to a community of this size, to get it to a level of understanding.”

Weseman said he also spoke to a Rotary Club gathering earlier this week about the school district’s needs. After that meeting, several people told him they had a better understanding why the bond issue is needed.

But getting the detail to the public will take time, he said.

“I think it’s a tough sell. It’s a hard sell,” he said.