Calif. school bond may be on 2016 ballot
By Jim Miller, Sacramento Bee
Proponents of a $9 billion school-construction bond have turned in enough valid voter signatures to qualify for the November 2016 ballot, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced Friday. The school borrowing measure would be the first since 2006.
Voters have approved about $45 billion in K-12 and higher education borrowing since 1998. All of the measures – totaling $9.3 billion in 1998, $13.05 billion in 2002, $12.3 billion in 2004 and $10.4 billion in 2006 – were placed on the ballot by the Legislature.
The pot of bond money is almost tapped out, and the state faces an estimated $20 billion backlog of applications.