Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot found her first public survey so helpful in the search for a new Wiscasset Middle High School principal, she has created another one, focused on the school department’s next budget.

The survey, at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/W56BH6G, opened Nov. 23; one day later, Wilmot was pleased with the early participation it was drawing. Forty-three people had taken the survey in its first 24 hours, she said.

As she did with the principal survey, Wilmot plans to monitor the numbers, both for participation and the trends forming around survey questions.

The first question asks for the respondent’s tie or ties to the school department — as a student, parent, staff member, Wiscasset resident or community member, who could be a business owner or other non-resident, Wilmot said. The survey is otherwise anonymous.

Next, it lists 11 budget areas to rate on a seven-point scale, from not important at all to extremely important: instructional materials; up-to-date technology; range and variety of programs for students; extracurricular activities, teacher-student ratio; cost-saving steps such as an energy-savings projects and performance contracting on energy; educator training; transportation and buildings; communication; classroom, library and secretarial support staff; and a second group of support staff, including guidance counselors, social workers, nurses and the school resource officer.

The officer’s job, created two years ago, has been part of the municipal budget. Plans call for it to shift to the school budget next year, School Committee Chairman Steve Smith has said.

The survey’s third question is an open one, inviting the taker to write anything else the school department should consider when it drafts the budget. The fourth and final question asks people how they would like the department to get information out to the public about the budget, whether by email or print mailings, the department’s website, School Committee meetings, small-group sessions, or another way, which the respondent can write in a box.

The survey closes at 4 p.m., Dec. 11. Wilmot plans to use the results to help make the School Committee, as well as principals and other administrators, aware of the community’s priorities in the budget. “We can use that as a base, or a measure, to help us,” she said.

A budget offer goes before voters in the spring, first in a town meeting that decides it piece by piece, then the final vote when residents take up it and the municipal budget.

Pick up a paper version of the survey at the school department’s central office at 225 Gardiner Road next to the town playground, or at Wiscasset Community Center, 242 Gardiner Road.

In addition, the department’s website at http://www.wiscassetschools.org has the survey link, along with a budget timetable and other information that Wilmot plans to update throughout the budget process.