Lawrence High School, left, and Free State High School are pictured on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015.

The Lawrence school board has received its first public nod of support for vast improvements to the district’s middle and high schools.

A survey commissioned by the district found that about three-quarters of residents surveyed would support an approximately $87 million Lawrence school district bond issue to renovate and expand the district’s six secondary schools.

“That’s an absolute home run,” said Rick Nobles, of Patron Insight, the company that conducted the survey. “People are giving you the benefit of the doubt. They trust you.”

The survey has a 5 percent margin of error, and Nobles said there was no statistical difference in support when respondents were provided an estimation of how much their taxes would increase as a result of the bond issue.

Before a specific tax increase was provided, 76 percent said they would support the project. When survey respondents were asked whether they would still support the bond issue if it resulted in a tax increase of about $55 a year for the owner of a $200,000 home, 71 percent still said they would vote in favor of the bond issue, according to the survey report.

Nobles said that was good news, and the next step would be providing more information to voters.

“It is clear you have the support of the public to pass a tax initiative that would not cost more than $55 per year,” Nobles said. “It is incumbent upon you to run a campaign to let people know what you’re going for, and specifically what it’s going to cost the owner of an average home. But they are very good numbers from a planning perspective.”

The $87 million price tag would be higher than previous figures discussed, as it includes upgrades to make the schools more energy efficient, such as LED lighting.

The survey consisted of 400 telephone responses from head-of-household, registered voters from four regions within the school district, according to the survey report. Both landlines and cell phones were included.

The survey also broke the high school projects down by school, and found support for improvements for centrally located Lawrence High School to be stronger than that for Free State High School. Lawrence High is the older building by more than 40 years.

“In terms of the supports among the schools once you list out what is being done, that order doesn’t surprise me: Lawrence High, then the middle schools, then Free State down lower,” said School Board President Marcel Harmon.

Specifically, 78 percent of respondents said they would vote in favor of improvement projects at Lawrence High. When asked about whether they support a list of improvements at Free State, only 51 percent said they did.

The district’s four middle schools were not broken out as part of the survey, and 73 percent of respondents indicated they would support a bond issue for those improvements.

Some of the improvements to Free State include expanding classrooms to account for increases in the student population, among other renovations. Nobles said part of the district’s campaign would need to be clarifying why those improvements are needed.

“It’s clear that your patrons care abut equity among the schools,” Nobles said. “You have a little work to do to educate them why a much newer building in Free State needs construction, or whatever it needs, to remain equitable with Lawrence High School.”

Summaries of the improvements listed in the survey are as follow:

• Lawrence High: The improvements include enlarging classrooms, modernizing the library, and improving mechanical, electrical, plumbing and roofing systems. The project would also renovate the annex, auditorium and gym, as well as the fine arts and career and technical education areas. Lawrence High consists of three buildings, and changes would also be made to make the campus more secure.

• Free State: The improvements include adding classrooms to address growth in the student population, modernizing the library, renovating locker rooms and making parking and site improvements.

• Middle schools: The improvements include the modernization of the libraries, renovations to create open spaces for collaborative learning, as well as improvements to mechanical, electrical, plumbing and roofing systems.

Board members did not take an official vote after receiving the survey results, but all members agreed that the district should move forward with drafting an election resolution.

The board will vote on whether to adopt the election resolution at its meeting Jan. 9. If approved, they would also need to decide whether they want to pay extra to do a mail-in ballot election, as opposed to in-person.

If approved, the school district’s bond issue election to fund secondary improvements would occur on May 2.

Nobles addressed the school board at a special noontime meeting Monday. The survey was supposed to have been discussed at the board’s last regularly scheduled meeting on Dec. 12, but that meeting was abruptly adjourned due to a protest over the resignation of a teacher who was accused of making racist remarks. That topic did not resurface at Monday’s meeting.