This research brief details some of the prominent ways that individuals, companies, and organizations secure financial gain and generate profit by controlling and running charter schools. To illustrate how charter school policy functions to promote privatization and profiteering, the authors explore differences between charter schools and…

Almost half of the states in the United States allow citizens to make educational policy through ballot issues, a mechanism of direct democracy. Yet, no study has attempted analyze the educational ballot issue landscape, meaning little systematic attention has been paid to this important and increasingly influential form of educational policy…

One distinction between the markets for corporate and municipal bonds involves institutional constraints that apply to some municipal bond issues. This research focuses on how public finance institutions, in particular explicit debt limits and referenda requirements, affect the borrowing cost of individual school district bond issues. The…

Using Levin and McEwan's (2001) "ingredients method," this study identified the major activities and associated costs of school levy campaigns in five districts. The ingredients were divided into one of five cost categories--human resources, facilities, fees, marketing, and supplies. As to overall costs of the campaigns, estimates ranged…

The ability to hold a successful bond election is a vital part of the superintendency in Texas. Aging facilities, increasing student enrollments, and technological needs exacerbate the need to gain community support for capital improvement projects. Appropriate facilities are needed not only for the physical space they provide, but also because…

This paper analyzes the impact of voter-approved school bond issues on school district balance sheets, local housing prices, and student achievement. We draw on the unique characteristics of California's system of school finance to obtain clean identification of bonds' causal effects, comparing districts in which school bond referenda passed or…

This study investigates parameters affecting the likelihood of passing school facility construction bonds by local district election. Using statewide data from Michigan, this study analyzes school bond data for urban (n = 30), suburban (n = 164), small town (n = 70), and rural (n = 241) school districts that held capital improvement bond elections…

States and localities issue debt to finance projects undertaken by government and, in some cases, by the private sector (bonds issued by states and localities to finance either government operations or certain private-sector activities are known as municipal bonds). The federal government subsidizes the issuance of municipal bonds by offering tax…

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Statewide Survey provides policymakers, the media, and the public with objective, advocacy-free information on the perceptions, opinions, and public policy preferences of California residents. Inaugurated in April 1998, this is the 125th PPIC Statewide Survey in a series that has generated a…

Methodology: There is no national source of data or information on the federal role in funding and oversight for public PK-12 school facilities. To address this shortcoming, 21st Century School Fund has prepared this study with the support of the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. In collecting data and information for this report,…

This study examined strategies that could assist public school administrators and school boards with the passage of bond issues. It specifically looked at such issues as the time of year that an issue was presented to voters, the nexus between community relations and successful passage, and leadership structure of bond campaigns. A survey…

Investigates variations in state funding programs for school building needs. Includes table of 2001-02 primary state aid programs for school facilities. Also describes use of local voter-approved bond issues to fund local school construction. Includes table of 2001-02 state bond programs, debt limits, and state aid for debt. Discusses emerging…

Examines the effects of including technology funding in Oklahoma school district bond issues on their voting percentages and pass/fail rates during fiscal years 1995-96 through 1999-2000. Finds that percent of technology funding included in bond issue dollar amount was significantly related to positive voting percentages and predictive of issue…

Models three-stage bond-rating process: whether to have a bond rated, whether to insure the bond, and estimation of the actual bond rating; tests multistage model empirically using sample of 148 bond issues representing 10 different states; finds that the par value (size) of the bond issue is decisive factor in decision to have a bond rated or…

Case study examines community values, beliefs, and norms related to school district efforts to pass a bond issue for the improvement and construction of school facilities in a rural midwestern community. (Contains 18 references.) (PKP)