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Conducting
Successful Bond Elections A school
board’s decision to put a bond levy on the ballot should trigger a number of district
information and community-sponsored activities. These activities should involve a
cross-section of key community members in the decision-making process, show voters the
merits of the district’s proposal, and help advocacy committees focus on methods of
gaining voter support.
Following are roles and responsibilities for board
members, administrators, staff, parents, students and community members in a bond election
campaign.
School board members
- Involve citizens in determining building/bond priorities.
Follow citizen advice as closely as possible in determining bond levy projects and amount.
- Conduct a community survey to determine community
understanding of and support for the bond proposal and its various components.
- Vote unanimously on final bond proposal.
- Become advocates. Participate in citizen-run campaign
activities; volunteer to accompany school personnel giving informational presentations so
that you can encourage those present to vote yes. As long as board members are not using
district staff time or resources, they can, and have a responsibility to, advocate for
passage of measures they vote to put on the ballot.
Superintendent and administrators
- Help the board identify staff, parents and other community
members who should be involved in planning and/or campaign processes.
- Provide information about the bond levy to staff, parents
and community groups/members and be prepared to answer their questions.
- Assist in voter registration efforts and in providing
opportunities for public discussion of the bond measure.
- Support advocacy activities as appropriate.
Staff
(classified and certified)
- Know about the bond levy measure and be prepared to answer
student, parent and community questions.
- Volunteer to work with the citizen advocacy campaign
during non-work time.
Parents and
community leaders
- Know about the bond levy measure and be prepared to answer
questions.
- Volunteer to take leadership roles in or work with the
citizen advocacy campaign.
Students
Generally, students should not be involved in campaign
activities. However, high school students (civics classes, student councils) sometimes ask
to be involved. Appropriate student tasks include:
- Conducting a voter registration drive to register
18-year-olds and recent high school graduates.
- Contacting alumni to encourage them to vote.
- Helping produce an informational video or slide
presentation about the bond measure.
Preparing district information
- Use survey data to write the 175-word ballot title summary
and 500-word voters’ pamphlet ballot explanation. Have bond counsel review ballot
title and explanation after it is written using key messages from survey data.
- Prepare a brief (one-page) summary of the bond proposal to
use at presentations for staff and others to use as a quick reference in talking about the
bond proposal.
- Meet with all staff (classified and certified) and parent
groups to discuss the bond proposal. Discuss importance of their being informed and able
to answer questions from the public. Respond to and record all staff/parent questions for
reference in producing district newsletters.
- Meet with community groups, as requested to discuss bond
proposal. Consider presentations that include a district representative to present the
facts and a board member or advocacy committee representative to advocate support.
- Consider producing and mailing two brochures to community
members regarding the bond proposal. The first mailing, sent to all households and
out-of-state absentee voters, should include a summary of the facilities committee’s
report, details regarding the bond levy amount, election and voter registration
information. The second mailing to all registered voter households should include the
ballot title and explanation, questions and answers, and election information. If this
information is included in first mailing, consider sending a postal card reminder to vote
using key messages.
Citizen
advocacy campaign activities
- An advocacy committee should have at least three months to
conduct a campaign.
- The advocacy committee should have a simple organization
focused on identifying and turning out the number of "yes" voters required to
pass the bond measure. (See page 33 for a suggested campaign organization.)
- Activities to reach identified voters should be
personalized e.g., telephoning, personalized letters, hand-written postal cards,
hand-addressed brochures, door-to-door canvassing in key precincts.
- An effort should be made to reach those most likely to
vote:
- Voters requesting mail ballots for all elections.
- Newly registered voters.
- Voters with preschool and school-age children.
- The advocacy committee should check parent and staff lists
against the voter registration list to see if a voter registration drive is required to
get more parents and all in-district staff registered to vote. (This activity should take
place early in the campaign and can actually be conducted by parent groups early in the
school year.)
- Activities should be prioritized based on available
resources — volunteers, dollars and in-kind contributions. The campaign calendar
developed for accomplishing campaign goals.
- A delegation of district and committee members should
attend an OSBA Bonds and Ballots Workshop to find out more about successful campaign
strategies and available resources.
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