This morning, May 22, 2017, a caller spoke on the topic of school bond/levies elections. He said that somewhere in California the election must garner about 20-30 percent of the electorate to pass.
The host, Peter, mentioned that the teachers union's are incredibly organized and can get out the vote on behalf of the school district.
A problem arises when the majority of the citizen's view on a bond do not mesh with the school district's/teacher union's views. If a majority of citizen's do not wish a levy to pass there is a problem if not enough citizens vote in order to override the district/teacher union vote.
In general, the teacher union's vote would favor an increase in taxes as their salary is effected by a levy passage. In addition, school administrators put pressure on school staff to vote so that their pet projects get passed.
So, the caller has a good point - to better represent citizen's viewpoints (and their budgets) a state/city would be better served if there was a 20 to 30 percent voter turnout for school levies/bonds.
Jeanne
P.S. Had trouble with sizing of fonts today.
