AEC: Valuable advice on funding and finance
Published: January 2, 2013
Several of the workshops in AEC’s Funding, Finance and Facilities strand offered suggestions for local bond campaigns, part of the “three-legged stool” of school finance along with state funding and developer fees and other property tax revenues.
Start by engaging your community about their expectations for local school facilities, and listen to the concerns of those who may be inclined to oppose a bond, former state Superintendent Jack O’Connell advised in the “Pure Politics: Prognosis of Budgets & Policy” workshop. Even conservative voters realize that quality schools affect everyone and add value to their homes, said O’Connell, who’s now a partner with Capitol Advisors Group LLC.
The “Dynamics of a Successful Bond Campaign” session offered specifics on how to frame the need for a bond: quality schools equal quality education, which helps home values. Lay the groundwork with a feasibility study to elicit the community’s needs and concerns, followed by polling to help structure a bond around those interests. Use experts to create messages that will resonate with your community, panelists advised.
Echoing the bond campaign session’s advice, Poway Unified School District officials shared their tips for winning support for a local bond at their session, “Solving the Funding Puzzle Needed for School Facilities.” First, identify your district’s facilities needs, which usually prompt a bond because of student growth, aging facilities and/or facility equity. Be ready to explain why community support is needed to build schools, said Poway Superintendent John Collins: “As of today, the state has abdicated its responsibility to build school facilities.”
Hopefully that will be rectified, in part, by a state school facilities bond in 2014. In the meantime, voters are approving local bonds in record numbers, as Ron Bennett, president and CEO of School Services of California pointed out in the State of the State General Session. The November election saw the most local bonds ever—106 measures worth $14 billion—and 81 percent of them passed. That shows people care about their children, in good times and bad, Bennett said.
“When we turn school finance over to the locals—like all those school districts that spend $14,000 and $15,000 per student do—the locals fund education for their children.”
CSBA is co-sponsoring State Constitutional Amendment 3 to make it possible for school districts to pass local parcel taxes with a simple majority. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, Jerry Hill, D-South San Francisco, and Fran Pavley, D-Agora Hills, introduced the measure, which could go on the statewide ballot in 2014 with legislative approval.