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…

Calls for an honest accounting of program and staff performance, easing of frictions between age groups, and paying more attention to the growing population of senior citizens, in the interest of better relations between school and community. (JF)

Foothill and De Anza Junior Colleges are described. (JW)

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)…

A Waconia, Minnesota superintendent involved in constructing a new high school found that designing a successful music suite depended on building community support, understanding the music suite's special needs, and managing compromise and communication. A participative planning process allowed considerable input on decisions concerning acoustics,…

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)

The superintendent of Coventry (Rhode Island) Schools explains how he converted annual town meetings from uncivil, interminable budget-slashing sessions to expressions of community support for student-centered reforms and a construction/renovation bond issue. The board grasped assessment difficulties by taking state-mandated tests for…

A school renovation referendum's success hinged on a superintendent's visit to Joseph Graves, outspoken leader of an anti-tax group. Graves's book advises educators to marshall the facts and then talk with voters on committees, not at them. After exhaustive discussion, groups will make their own recommendations. (MLH)

A DeKalb, Illinois, school district involved students and community members in passing a bond tax rate and in school planning. An old hospital converted into an administrative center produces rental income. (MLF)

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…

The combined effect of the "Serrano" decision and Proposition 13 left California school districts with aging, overcrowded facilities. Chico schools won a $18.5 million general obligation bond election for facilities construction. With $11 billion needed for new school construction, California will need to tap local sources. A sidebar…

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

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…

While new school construction bond elections for rural school districts can be difficult to pass, success is possible. This paper presents one superintendent's effective campaign to build a $4.2 million elementary school within a rural community. It reveals the need to continually reinforce the message of committing to educational quality combined…