The Public Policy Institute of California report Fiscal Effects of Voter Approval Requirements on Local Governments pointed out in 2003 that “Although ballot measures are playing a growing role in the functioning of local governments in California, there is no single, comprehensive source of information on them.” Researchers for that report obtained their data from the California Association of Realtors, the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission, California’s Coalition for Adequate School Housing (C.A.S.H.), local newspaper stories and websites, and county elections offices.

The availability of data has improved somewhat, but it still remains a time-consuming challenge to collect and synthesize it, identify and correct inconsistencies in the data, and present it in a useful format. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that compilation of debt service data for California local school and college districts had ever been done, so that information had to be collected and compiled from Official Statements for bond issues posted on EMMA.

Sources for Data in the Appendices: Name of School District, Election Date, Amount Authorized, Letter Designation on Ballot, Percentage Threshold for Approval, Number of Yes Votes, Number of Total Votes

To ascertain data in these seven categories, the following sources were converted into spreadsheets, data was cross-referenced, and discrepancies were reconciled. Close results were cross-referenced with Election Results pages of county election office websites.

California Secretary of State – County, City, School District & Ballot Measure Election Results at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/county-city-school-district-ballot-measure-election-results/

California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC), affiliated with the California State Treasurer – State and Local Bond and Tax Ballot Measures at http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/cdiac/publications/alphabetical.asp#s

California’s Coalition for Adequate School Housing (C.A.S.H) – School District Bond Elections – Local GO Bond Election Summary (1986-2014) at http://www.cashnet.org/resource-material/bondelec.html

California Local Government Finance Almanac, produced by Michael Coleman – Summary Reports and Analyses of Elections – California Local Ballot Measures at http://www.californiacityfinance.com

Ballotpedia, an Interactive Almanac of American Politics – School Bond Elections in California at http://ballotpedia.org/School_bond_elections_in_California

Sources for Data in the Appendices: Amount of Debt Service

Official Statements posted on the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA)^® database of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), a self-regulatory organization overseen by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, at http://emma.msrb.org

Links to Appendices A Through L

Appendix A – All California Educational Bond Measures Pass and Fail – 2001-2014 Ranked by Percentage of Voter Approval

Appendix B – All California Educational Bond Measures Approved by Voters – 2001-2014 Ranked by Amount Authorized to Borrow

Appendix C – All California Educational Bond Measures Rejected 2001-2014 – Ranked by Amount NOT Authorized to Borrow

Appendix D – All California Educational Bond Measures Approved With a Two-Thirds Threshold Since November 2000 Enactment of Proposition 39 – Listed By Election Year

Appendix E – All California Educational Bond Measures 55 Percent – 2001-2014

Appendix F – All California Educational Bond Measures Repurposed or Reauthorized Since November 2000 Enactment of Proposition 39 – Listed by Election Year

Appendix G – All California Educational Bond Measures Approved by Voters with 55 Percent Threshold Since November 2000 – Results if Prop 39 Had Not Been Law

Appendix H – All California Educational Bond Measures Approved by Voters Under 55 Percent Threshold Since November 2000 Enactment of Proposition 39 – Failures Under 2:3 Threshold

Appendix I – All California Educational Bond Measures Approved by Voters – 2001-2014 Ranked by Amount of Debt Service

Appendix J – All Educational Districts in Which Voters Authorized Borrowing Via Bond Sales Since Proposition 39 – Ratio of Current Debt Service to Amount Authorized

Appendix K – All Educational Districts in Which Voters Authorized Borrowing Via Bond Sales Since November 2000 Enactment of Prop 39 – Ratio of Current Debt Service to Total Yes Votes