KGVO Talk Back listener comment on raising the bar on school levies and bonds

I listen to KGVO's 1290 am Talk Back program in the morning. This program reaches about 20,000 people according to the hosts, Peter Christian and Jon King.

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.