$6 billion in school bonds decided at the ballot box

July 6, 2012

By Johanna Herman

Click on any state for information about its laws governing school bond and tax votes 2012 elections School bonds & taxes (Part 1 & Part 2) County website evals.

We're half-way through the new year and already $6 billion in local school bonds have appeared at the ballot box. Of the hundreds of measures that made their way to the ballot, local voters approved an estimated $4 billion in school bonds.

As a comparison, for the whole year of 2011 school bond money totaled about $8 billion and nearly $3 billion of it was approved by voters.

This month, Ballotpedia takes a closer look at school bond measures that appeared on ballots in California, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Specifically, Ballotpedia analyzed measures that appeared on the ballot between January-July 2012.

Arizona, Colorado and Florida did not have school bond elections in the first half of the year.

In total, 258 bond issues appeared on ballots. Voters approved 159 measures (61.6%).

The amount of bond money that was voted on varied largely by state. California had the most money up for grabs with a total of around $2.3 billion; of which $1.83 billion was approved.

The approval rate for the state of California stands at 80% for the first 6 months of the year. In 2011, California had a 41% approval rating for the entire year (12 months).

On the other end of the spectrum, Oregon had the least amount of bond money on the ballot - $129 million. Voters approved $89 million.

Though Oregon had the least amount of bond money on the ballot, the state of Illinois featured the lowest approval rating for bond proposals. Illinois had a total of $156 million up for vote, but only $18.9 million was approved by voters.

Stay tuned next week for a closer look at school property tax approval rates.

The table below breaks down (by state) exactly how much money was approved or defeated in January-July 2012.

Legend      Winning percentage above 70%     Winning percentage below 50%

State	Approved	Defeated	% approved
California	$1,836,350,000	$464,195,000	80%
Illinois	$18,975,000	$138,420,000	12%
Michigan	$307,450,000	$374,600,000	45%
Missouri	$240,930,000	$115,500,000	68%
Ohio	$395,270,000	$102,900,000	79%
Oregon	$89,560,000	$40,000,000	69%
Texas	$638,045,000	$202,285,000	76%
Washington	$487,950,000	$653,200,000	43%
Wisconsin	$192,000,000	$64,300,000	75%
Totals:	$4,119,930,000	$2,155,400,000	65.7%

Click here for the full breakdown!

See also

Propositions •	Recall	• Law

• Approval rates of local school bond and tax questions in 2012, January-July
• School bond and tax elections in 2012
• Voting on school bond and tax measures
• Where to find information about local school bond and tax elections
• State-by-state comparison of school bond and tax laws