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Half-Penny Promise Website

Content Modeling & Site Development

I designed and built the campaign website for Hillsborough Students Deserve Better, the political committee supporting renewal of Hillsborough County Public Schools’ half-penny sales tax. The site connects 238 schools to the 46 project types the tax has funded and the projects renewal would fund, so voters can browse it by school or by project type.

Visit HalfPennyPromise.com
Half-Penny Promise homepage. A navy navigation bar holds the Half-Penny Promise logo and links to About the Referendum, Promises Kept, The Impact, FAQ, Endorsements, News, and Get Involved. The hero pairs a gold panel reading "Safer Schools, Brighter Futures, Vote Yes on Referendum 3" with a photo of smiling graduates in caps and gold stoles. Introductory text below explains that the November vote would keep the Half-Penny Promise made in 2018.
Home page hero, built to the campaign style guide.
Organization
Hillsborough Students Deserve Better
Collaboration
Winzig Consulting: campaign management and source content
Platform
WordPress, Elementor, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)
Launched
August 2026, ahead of the Nov. 3 vote
238
School Pages
46
Project Pages
1,908
Project Records

The Challenge

The campaign needed voters to see what the tax had already paid for at their own school and what renewal would pay for next. That information existed, but not in a form voters could use.

The district tracked the work in two spreadsheets with different formats, one for completed and in-progress projects and one for proposed projects. Both had to become a structured, searchable site before the Nov. 3 vote.

Diagram titled How the Half-Penny Promise Site Is Structured. Three inputs, School (238 school posts), Project Type (46 project posts), and Project Phase (3 values), point into a central Project Record box (1,908 records). A divider separates the backend from the frontend. Below it, records feed two outputs: the School Page, listing its projects grouped by phase, and the Project Page, listing its schools grouped by phase.
Each School has various Projects that are either Completed, In Progress, or Proposed. Each of those is a Project Record. Each School Page or Project Page is built from those Project Records.
Slide titled From Two District Spreadsheets to One Import File. Top: a crop of the original district spreadsheet, a color-coded grid of schools against rotated project column headings, with the Hillsborough High row and Roof Replacement column highlighted where they meet. Bottom: the compiled import CSV, with columns for record title, school, project, and phase, highlighting the row for Hillsborough High, Roof Replacement, Completed.
The district’s project data was recorded in two spreadsheets, one for completed and in-progress work and one for proposed work, in different formats. I used Claude to merge them into a single CSV matching the site’s import structure, then spot checked the output against the district files before importing.
Slide titled One Record, Three Relationships. Left: the WordPress Project Records list showing 1,908 published records, each titled by school, project, and phase, with Hillsborough High, Roof Replacement, Completed highlighted. Right: the edit screen for that record, with Related School set to Hillsborough High, Related Project set to Roof Replacement, and the Completed phase assigned.
Each row in the import file became one of 1,908 Project Records. A record holds three selections: a School, a Project, and a Project Phase. Editing a record updates both the School Page and the Project Page that display it.
Slide titled The School Page: Every Project, Grouped by Phase. Left: the Hillsborough High school page, listing six completed projects, one project in progress, and three proposed for referendum funding after 2028. Right: a close-up of the Completed Since 2018 section with Roof Replacement highlighted.
The Hillsborough High page lists every project with a Hillsborough High record, grouped by Project Phase. Roof Replacement appears under Completed Since 2018 because of the record shown in WordPress. That same record also places Hillsborough High on the Roof Replacement page.
Slide titled The Project Page: Every School, Grouped by Phase. Left: a shortened view of the Roof Replacement project page, with schools grouped under Completed Since 2018, In Progress for 2018 Cycle, and Proposed for Referendum Funding after 2028. Right: a close-up of the completed list with Hillsborough High highlighted.
The Roof Replacement page lists every school with a Roof Replacement record, grouped by Project Phase. Hillsborough High appears under Completed Since 2018 because of the same record shown in WordPress. Lists are shortened here; the live page lists all 92 schools.
Slide titled The School Projects Page: Every School, Searchable by Name. A search for "hil" returns Chiles Elementary, Forest Hills Elementary, Hill Middle, Hillsborough High, and Riverhills Elementary, with Hillsborough High highlighted.
A voter looking for one school starts here. A partial search matches anywhere in a school name, so “hil” returns Hillsborough High with other matching schools. Each result opens a School Page like the one for Hillsborough High.

Content Architecture and Build

  • Designed the information architecture and content model, connecting schools, project types, and phases through a single Project Record content type.
  • Built the site in WordPress with Elementor and ACF Pro as sole developer.
  • Merged the two district spreadsheets into one import file using Claude, then spot-checked the output against the district files before generating 1,908 records.
  • Built school and project page templates that assemble their lists from those records, grouped by phase, with phase headings that stay pinned through long lists.
  • Directed and edited site copy drafted with AI assistance from campaign source material.
  • Built the site to the campaign style guide I created, which also governs print, signage, and social graphics.
Hillsborough High school page from the Half-Penny Promise site. The school's projects are grouped under three phase headings: six completed since 2018, an athletic track upgrade in progress through 2028, and three projects proposed for referendum funding after 2028.
School Page: every project at one school, grouped by phase, with the phase heading pinned while the list scrolls.
Roof Replacement project page from the Half-Penny Promise site. A short explanation of the project type and a construction photo sit above a list of schools under the heading Completed Since 2018, built from the site's project records.
Event page: one event built from the event template, with date, location, registration, and presenting sponsor.

Copy and Campaign Style

  • Directed and edited site copy drafted with AI assistance from campaign source material.
  • Built the site to the campaign style guide I created, which also governs print, signage, and social graphics.
Half-Penny Promise homepage. A navy navigation bar holds the Half-Penny Promise logo and links to About the Referendum, Promises Kept, The Impact, FAQ, Endorsements, News, and Get Involved. The hero pairs a gold panel reading "Safer Schools, Brighter Futures, Vote Yes on Referendum 3" with a photo of smiling graduates in caps and gold stoles. Introductory text below explains that the November vote would keep the Half-Penny Promise made in 2018.
Home page hero, built to the campaign style guide.
Under a gold header, an accordion lists voter questions, including what's on the November ballot and whether the renewal is a new tax. The first question, What is the Half-Penny Promise?, is expanded to show its answer.
What the FAQ answered for voters.
Get Involved page. A navy band promotes Town Hall Meetings on Referendum 3, with a photo of an audience facing a presenter and a Read More button. Below it, an Add Your Endorsement section explains how organizations and community leaders can endorse the referendum, next to a form asking for name, email, organization, title, and endorsement type.
Endorsement intake and Town Hall promotion
Promises Kept page. A section titled What the 2018 Referendum Delivered summarizes results since 2019, including more than 900 completed projects. Below it, an HVAC Replacement feature on Blake High describes a $6.1 million system replacement, next to a photo of a technician working on an equipment panel and a Proposed Work card with a View Schools button.
Promises Kept: completed project case studies.
The Impact page. Under the label A Milestone Year, the heading Stronger Schools Support Stronger Student Outcomes introduces the district's first A grade since 2014, next to a photo of a teacher with young students on a classroom rug. Four stat cards show the A district grade, 127 of 214 traditional schools earning an A or B, a record 90.9% graduation rate, and a record 71% AP pass rate.
The Impact: the district's record results, after the first decade of funding.
Visit HalfPennyPromise.com

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