Tough times call for new strategies for bond campaigns
By Ellie Ashford
California’s Los Nietos School District did a lot of homework before placing its first-ever bond measure on the ballot in June.
Key administrators attended training sessions, and the district surveyed parents to make sure they supported the $31 million proposal, said board president Nicholas Aquino.
A consultant hired by the board recommended the campaign target absentee voters, senior citizens, frequent voters, and parents.
The campaign included door-to-door and phone canvassing, information about the referendum in a church newsletter in Spanish and English, and letters to every parent, Aquino says. For voters without children, the message emphasized the connection between better schools and “high property values, fewer truants, and less crime and vandalism.”
The Whittier, Calif., community has been hard-hit by foreclosures, and some were concerned that it might not be appropriate to ask vulnerable homeowners to increase school spending. In fact, two board members opposed the bond, which nevertheless passed with a margin of 73 percent.
Other districts with bond measures on the ballot this fall might not be so lucky. The economic downturn means voters might be less inclined to support initiatives that will raise taxes. But with state funding for education expected to decline, school boards will need voter support for bonds and levies more than ever.
Of the 31 school bond measures on the ballot in Washington state in 2008, only eight have passed, says John Gores, senior vice president of the D.A. Davidson regional investment firm. Normally, the success rate is 40 percent.
A tough climate
“This economic downturn leaves almost no one untouched,” Gores says. The high prices of gas and food, declining home values, and the consumer confidence index at a 20-year low are all “playing into the minds of voters,” he says.
In the past, most bonds and levies passed with margins well over 60 percent, but this year, many squeaked by with just 53 or 54 percent, adds Dan Steele, director of government relations for the Washington State School Directors Association. The passage rate would have been even worse if the threshold for levies hadn’t been reduced in 2007 from a supermajority of 66 percent to 50 percent.
“Voters are becoming more reticent about supporting bond issues,” Steele says. “It has really become a pocketbook issue. Voters are saying, ‘Am I going to support the schools, or the fire department, or the library, or am I fed up and not going to support anything?’”
The inflationary environment is creating a “fear factor,” says Trevor Carlson, senior vice president of Seattle Northwest Securities Corp. “That means school districts need to carry out a more careful needs analysis before putting issues to the voters.”
Carlson says boards should “be more frugal in the choice of projects they lump together” for voters to approve. “Tie it to teaching kids,” he says. “Survey the community about what is important to them and tie it to the needs of the community.”
Bill Morris, president of the Minneapolis-based Decision Resources, a market and research firm, says “empty nesters” are the key to winning a bond referendum in tough economic times. “You have to tie a bond to property values,” he says. “You have to get people to understand that poor public schools will depress home values even further.”
Many challenges
Minneapolis school board Chair Lydia Lee concedes the district faces some challenges in securing voter approval of a $60 million operating levy in November. Minneapolis has one of the highest mortgage foreclosure rates in the country, and the measure would raise property taxes by about $15 a month for a $250,000 home.
In addition, Lee says, 80 percent of Minneapolis residents do not have school-age children. The referendum campaign will “help that group understand the benefits of good schools and that educating our children better will lead to a stronger work force and less crime and violence.”
A citizens committee has put a lot of effort into planning the campaign, Lee says. “They are going to every single community event, every parade, handing out T-shirts, and holding house parties.” So far, the referendum has been endorsed by the mayor, teacher unions, and other unions.
Lee is optimistic, but if the measure fails, the district has one more year to try again. If it fails a second time, she says, “We will be in deep trouble. If we have to make more cuts in the budget, it will be really hard to run the school system. We’ve already made so many cuts.”
Half of the funds would be used to reduce class sizes. The rest would be used for reading instruction, teacher training, improving math and science programs, and new textbooks and technology.
State funding has shrunk due to declining enrollment, Lee says, and the district has had an annual deficit of about $120 million despite closing 11 schools over the past two years. Meanwhile, class size has gone up, with the average high school class now carrying 36 students.
Listen to voters
Gay Campbell of C&M Communications says the main reason bond issues don’t win is because those running the campaign “didn’t listen to the community in the first place.”
“With the wrong message or the wrong item on the ballot, a referendum could lose support by as much as 30 percent, while the right item could increase support by as much as 20 percent,” says Campbell, whose offices are based in Portland, Ore., and Camano Island, Wash.
For example, she says, voters are inclined to support funding that goes to the classroom or alleviates overcrowding. Adding items seen as less critical, such as sports fields with artificial turf, could sink the whole thing.
“People are much more likely to vote for basic maintenance and heating and ventilation upgrades, than auditoriums, gyms, common areas, or sports facilities,” she says. And bonds and levies targeted to textbooks and teaching materials usually resonate well with voter.
According to a 2007 survey of Washington state voters, 73 percent said they would support a bond to fund classroom technology purchases, 69 percent would support a bond for modernizing existing schools, and 57 percent would support a bond for new construction.
The survey found improving health care the most important issue facing voters, gaining 7 percentage points from 2005 to 2007. Increasing funding for education was in second place, but it was down 4 percentage points.
If several money issues are on the ballot, Campbell sometimes advises school districts to hold off on bond and levy measures. People concerned about tax increases often support just one referendum, usually the least costly.
Morris has seen some surprises in bond elections this year. Bonds seeking funding for renovations usually gain more support than those for new buildings, which usually carry a larger tax burden. But that wasn’t the case in Minnesota’s Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial School District.
The board had sought—and failed—to win voter approval for a school renovation bond seven times. This year, the district changed its strategy, asking voters instead to support a bond for a new high school. It passed, even though it called for a property tax increase of about $200 a year.
Voters who wanted a new school were willing to pay for it, and those who wanted the existing school renovated were willing to pay more for a new building, Morris says. In the past, those who preferred a new school joined with anti-tax opponents to reject the renovation bonds.
Another factor affecting school bonds this year is the impact of the presidential election.
About 75 percent of referendums usually pass in Minnesota in non-presidential election years, but the figure drops to about 55 percent when voters are selecting a president, says Gregg Abbott of the Minnesota School Boards Association.
“With all the media attention focused on the presidential and congressional elections, it’s going to be harder to get your message out,” Abbott says.
During nonpresidential years, when there is lower voter turnout, bond campaigns tend to target older citizens who are more likely to show up at the polls. But presidential elections attract larger numbers of younger voters, so Morris advises bond committees to cast a wider net this fall and particularly target parents of preschoolers.
A targeted approach
Campbell says boards should tailor messages to different parts of the community.
She points to an Illinois district’s referendum that was rejected four times, then approved when a more targeted approach was used, she says. Bond campaigners talked about the need to relieve overcrowded classrooms in some neighborhoods and stressed other benefits, such as new science labs and arts programs, in other areas.
E-mail and other electronic communications can be helpful, she says, but “in a town with a strong anti-tax group, you could be feeding the fire. A citizens’ group has to be really proactive to counter all the negative information given out by an anti-tax group. Much of it turns out to be not true.”
Research-based targeting and marketing are essential, but personal contact is the key to winning, Campbell says. “Phone calls are good; face-to-face meetings and walking a precinct knocking on doors are better,” she says. “People are tired of the impersonal nature of government. People want to feel connected.”
Personal attention
It’s that kind of personal attention that helped the Madison School District in Rexburg, Idaho, win approval of a $19.5 million bond issue in June. Voters had rejected a $16 million bond in December to complete the construction of a new high school. Since the measure failed, construction costs have increased and enrollment has grown, requiring eight additional classrooms, says board Chair David L. Ward.
To counter opposition from several local groups, bond supporters set up a series of “cottage meetings,” where neighbors gathered in homes to talk about the districts’ needs; encouraged people to vote early on absentee ballots; and set up a “captains of 10” phone tree. Each board member identified 10 bond supporters and asked each to call 10 people the week before the vote and again on election day.
All those efforts worked: The bond passed with 68 percent of the vote.
“It really does take a community,” Ward said. “If you are serious about communicating with voters, they will understand why the funding is needed, and they will support you.”
Reproduced with permission from
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