Myths and facts about passing
a tax initiative
We are starting a three-month series on “Myths and facts about passing a tax initiative” that will provide real-world information about some of the nuttier things we hear working with school districts.
The first myth and fact example is one we regularly encounter.
MYTH #1: “People talk to me, so I know what they want.” (We hear this from superintendents and BOE members.)
FACT #1: The same people talk to you – all the time.
We always go with the 10-80-10 rule, which states:
- Ten percent of your audience loves you and agrees with everything you say or do.
- Another 10 percent are what we call CAVE dwellers (Citizens Against Virtually Everything), and they will be against anything you want to do. You hear from this group of patrons and the one above an inordinate amount of the time. Because they constantly communicate with you, it seems you are hearing from a lot more people than you really are.
- The 80 percent group is the patrons you never hear from. They don’t attend BOE meetings and don’t hang around with superintendents. In fact, our own research has shown that 95 percent of the people in the United States have never had a conversation with a school superintendent. These people are the voters who will approve or sink your ballot initiative.
However you do it, you must know in advance what these people want, don’t want and are willing to pay for. You also need to know if they are happy with the job the district is doing today and if they are paying attention to district news. When you know all these things, you can structure a winning ballot issue.
Remember, the worst thing you can do is not the actual losing of a ballot issue but losing a ballot issue and not knowing why you lost.
