This article challenges the view that citywide referenda alone are an effective means of ensuring accountability for mayoral control. Through new empirical analysis of the referenda results in Boston and Cleveland, the article shows that rather than establish genuine democratic legitimacy, the referenda in fact mask strong class-based, and in…

Despite a number of savvy strategies, it was a tough year at the polls for libraries. Both building and operating referenda had the lowest passage rates this decade, with only 52% of capital referenda and 57% of operating referenda finding success. In fact, in the 18 years since Library Journal has been tracking these votes, 2005 had the lowest…

Specific factors that characterized successful 1976 election campaigns in Michigan school districts. (MLF)

The article examines the degree of support Chicano voters give Chicano candidates and whether that support varies within different elements of the Chicano community. (NQ)

Describes efforts to enlist community support for a bond referendum to build two new elementary schools in Lunenburg County, Virginia. Recommends (1) establishing a grassroots organization; (2) emphasizing moral issues; (3) stressing needs of the school system; (4) orienting the campaign toward the future; (5) starting the campaign early; and (6)…

An Illinois school system won a bond issue election with a 30-day marketing campaign. Helpful marketing practices include identification of the target audience and finding the best medium to reach the audience. (MLF)

Between 1983 and 1984, tax referenda for Sauk Valley College (SVC) were on the ballot three times. Research conducted before and after the tax referendum failed to pass in November 1983 provided the basis for strategy enhancement that brought SVC closer to its goal in March 1984 and finally to the achievement of the goal in November. In October…

Reports on a study that sought to identify those factors which were successful determiners of initial school budget election outcomes. The research focused on a sample of some 200 New York State school districts, half of which experienced budget defeats in the Spring of 1972. (Author/JF)

This booklet deals with ideas, plans, and activities that have worked to gain election successes; and it discusses the pitfalls and problems that have produced election failures. The report tells how to organize people and jobs, and provides a timetable for actions during the last 12 weeks of a campaign. The authors suggest that most successful…

Reports a Federally financed countywide project to identify the causes of public neglect of the schools and to list remedies. (Author)

This speech traces the background of the passage of a bond issue in the Kansas City School District, Kansas, to aid other districts seeking to pass bond issues. The author sets out in chronological order the procedures that were taken to eliminate or neutralize opposition to the bond proposal. The author also notes that the board of education…

In spite of a nationwide concern for the crumbling infrastructure of school buildings, the prospects of passing bond issues to repair or replace buildings are elusive. This study examined positive and negative factors that affected the outcomes of school bond elections in four purposefully-selected school districts in Iowa. Variables that…

Following two-failed school bond issues in 1995 and 1998, one mid-sized rural school district organized an effort that led to two successful school bond elections in 2001 and 2003. The school district's strategic plan mirrored many of the recommendations for successful bond referendums published in School Bond Success: A Strategy for Building…

This study identifies successful election strategies employed by community colleges in bond issues or tax levy increase elections, and distills these strategies into a list of principles or rules that can be utilized by colleges in preparing for such an event. Results of case studies conducted at Maricopa (Arizona), Santa Monica (California), and…

Examining school board elections in Tucson, Arizona, the study focused on the extent to which voters preferred candidates of their own racial/ethnic background, the socio-political factors affecting the voters' preferences, and the degree of voter polarization among Chicano and Anglo voters. Data were derived from the Pima County Election Bureau,…