Indian Hills Community College had the numbers behind them upon passing a bond measure in November 2021. More than 12,000 voters in 17 Iowa counties gave their approval for a $28 million referendum designated to fund a brand new campus and additional major improvements. The bond, which needed 60% support to pass, cleared that hurdle with more than…

While U.S. voters delivered a significant change in the 2024 federal elections, they opted for steady leadership at the state level. No state board of education shifted in partisan control, and only five seats saw a shift in political party out of 27 races that were contested in the general election. This policy update looks at the results of…

For libraries, the impact of the derailed economy was felt more fully in 2009 than in 2008, as tax revenues decreased and public funds dwindled. By February 2009, the American Library Association (ALA) reported from a survey of its Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) that 41 percent of states expected declining state funding for…

A year ago, Republicans piled up record victories in state elections on promises that they would keep taxes low and cut government spending--including money going to education. Now, elected officials and other partisans are laying the foundation for arguments they will take to the electorate next year that depict the cuts delivered by many…

Anticipating a substantially larger voter turnout in the upcoming election, district officials needed to probe--more precisely than in past tax elections--exactly what demographic groups would most likely go to the polls and support the tax proposal. Message testing and voter targeting became critical components in building a foundation for…

A widely accepted result in the literature is that the majority of voters are against the introduction of universal vouchers. Chen and West (2000) predict that voters' attitudes towards selective vouchers (SV) may be different. They claim that voters are indifferent between the no-voucher and SV regimes, unless competition leads to a reduction in…

In the late 1600s, British physicist Sir Isaac Newton first demonstrated refraction and dispersion in a triangular prism. He discovered that a prism could decompose white light into a spectrum. Hold a prism up to the light at the correct angle and white light magically splits into vivid colors of the rainbow! So what do prisms and rainbows have to…

The 2010 EdSource Forum, held on March 19 in Santa Clara, focused on the obstacles and opportunities in the road ahead for public schools and community colleges. The Forum included four sessions. Two are covered in this report: (1) A sobering discussion of California's fiscal crisis by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor; and (2) A lively Q&A…

As noted in "School Referenda in Indiana", the contributing factors to school referenda outcomes are often subject to the individual communities; while a referendum with a high requested tax rate increase might fail in one community, the same referendum might pass in another. Despite this factor, there often are notable trends and…

The May primary election added seven school district referenda to the total number occurring in Indiana since 2008, three of which passed and four of which were rejected by voters. In the 2011 primary election, there were five General Fund referenda and two construction referenda. Of General Fund referenda, two passed (Crown Point Community School…

This article reports that a state ballot measure to ban affirmative-action programs based on race, gender, and national origin at public colleges and other state agencies was defeated. Colorado voters narrowly rejected such a referendum last week by a razor-thin margin that took two days to become official. Voters in Nebraska, however, took the…

Ipswich, with about 2,200 students, is one of the many school districts in Massachusetts. Ipswich is governed by an open town meeting at which every registered voter may speak and vote. Budgets in Ipswich are highly detailed public documents in which every salary, classroom, and operating expenditure is identified. The budget book provides…

Education issues are poised to break through the din of presidential politics and economic anxiety in more than a dozen states next month, as voters confront ballot questions and constitutional amendments involving K-12 policy and school finance. High on the list are gambling referendums in six states--Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Maryland,…

For the first time in history, an educational bidding war between republicans and democrats will treat the American voter. The candidate will be called for a major increase in spending and redefined programs and usual purposes.

Students at many public universities often have a substantial say in what they will pay for the construction of non-academic facilities usually through referenda in which they vote to enact fees to cover the debt service on the building. However, some students are reluctant to vote in any new fee, given that tuition regularly increases at…