Whether it is requests for bricks and mortar or more operating money, each election type and context is unique with no guarantee that a set of campaign strategies--successful in one district--will not fail in another community. If successful campaigns were not such a delicate balance of science and art, the key to success would have long since been discovered, resulting in significantly more school districts winning at the ballot box. As members of the baby-boom generation collectively watch their last child receive a diploma from our nation's public schools, passing school finance elections...

This book represents a marriage of research and successful practice, presenting a comprehensive planning model for school leaders preparing for and conducting school finance elections. Information presented emphasizes systems and strategies rather than specific campaign tactics. Avoiding a myopic focus on tactics allows school leaders to elevate their thinking to a more comprehensive and long-range vision of election planning. Each of the chapters elaborates on one of the ten elements in the authors' comprehensive planning model. Use of this model has reaped success in all types of school...