Purpose: Across the United States, a large percentage of school districts are in need of facility improvements to provide safe and adequate buildings to facilitate student learning. To finance new construction, school districts traditionally have put proposals before local voters to fund construction through issuing long-term bonds to finance…

Demonstrates how urban-socio-political geographers may use findings from research in political science, sociology, and education to analyze a city's voting patterns on school levies. (JM)

This book summarizes and analyzes empirical research on voting in school financial elections, based on more than 100 research reports published since 1960. In their discussion, the authors attempt to objectively catalogue significant research findings, as well as to evaluate the findings and relate them to each other. Chapter 1 introduces the…

This publication summarizes research findings and other data on school financial elections during the past decade in an attempt to provide school officials with a useful compilation of the available information. Major topics addressed in the report include 1) general trends regarding school financial elections in the 1960s and early 1970s, 2)…

An investigation of a proposed public transit was based on the assumptions that knowledge of school tax referenda should provide a framework for understanding voter behavior in other types of referenda, and that propositions generated in one type of research should hold up in another. It was anticipated that there would be spillover effects from…

In this paper, the authors attempt to provide a basic outline of what is known about the determinants of success or failure in school financial elections. The research, conducted since 1960, comes from several academic disciplines, employs a wide variety of techniques and methods, and is geographically representative of the United States.…

The recent marked increase in voter-taxpayer rejection of school budget and school bond issues at polls across the United States -- a phenomenon popularly called the "taxpayers' revolt" -- has given rise to the widespread claim that public school finance is in a state of crisis. This paper develops a simplified model of a political…

The authors first present their views on directions for change. They see the desirable direction for change involving a significant expansion of the Federal financing of education; decentralization of the administration and control of schools; and the creation of centers for education research, training, innovation, and information on a regional…

Prospective research on the politics of school finance is linked to current major policy issues in this paper. Two main sections discuss the politics of revenue raising and distribution within school districts. New developments include a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and of policy instrument research with financial…

Since its establishment in the 1860s, Washington's higher education system has evolved rapidly to meet a myriad of state needs in fields as diverse as agriculture, bioscience, chemistry, environmental sciences, engineering, medicine, law, business, computer science, and architecture. Today, higher education, like other vital state functions, faces…

First published in 2002, "Key Facts about Higher Education in Washington" provides valuable information on the ways higher education serves the state and its people. The most current data and information available is presented throughout this report to highlight the "Key Facts" about Washington's postsecondary institutions,…

This publication brings together much of the information one might need to develop a broad understanding of how public and private higher education institutions serve the people of Washington and about the important role higher education plays in developing the state's society, economy, and future. The most often-asked questions about…