One of the biggest projects any school communicator will undertake is a referendum/bond campaign. Asking your community to approve funding for your district – we’re talking about tens of millions of dollars, in most cases – is a giant responsibility.
Where do you start? How should you strategize your messaging? Which marketing channels should you use? How does this change your social media strategy?
If you feel like you’ve been thrown into the fire, today’s blog is for you!
There is a LOT to do when you’re going into a project like this, and the intention of this article is not to cover every single step. Instead, I’m going to share some social media best practices to help you earn the trust and transparency you need, to pass your ballot question, and point you in the direction of some excellent resources to prepare further.
Let’s dig in!!
Why Education Ballot Measures are Becoming More Common
The federal government provided ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But those funds are sunsetting this fall, and because the money is “use it or lose it,” districts need to spend it now.
That means future budgets and programs are being impacted. Schools relied on ESSER funds to cover ongoing expenses, special programs, and initiatives like mental health programming and technology investments. Some staff positions were also funded by ESSER, so districts are facing tough decisions around how to continue these essential services.
State budgets are compounding this problem because many states have not prioritized public education investments in light of the federal funds coming in.
Schools now find themselves asking for money through a ballot question. This is a tool that many public school districts use to secure funding beyond what is provided through regular state and federal funding.
However, every district, county, and state has slightly different rules about referendum/bond questions, so your campaign will most likely be unique to your community.
To make it even more confusing (especially for your community members!), there are several different ways a financial appeal can be presented, including:
- General Operating Referendum (basic needs and operations)
- Special Operating Referendum (specific programs such as arts, athletics, or technology)
- Capital Project Referendums (new buildings, renovations, and upgrades)
- Debt Service Referendums (managing debt or restructuring loans)
- Special Project Referendums (targeted projects like school safety and sustainability)
- Recreational Facilities Referendums (build or upgrade recreational or athletic facilities)
This article does a great job outlining all the reasons that ballot measures are becoming a staple of every election season. It’s specific to Wisconsin, but similar themes are playing out across the country.
#SchoolPR Referendum/Bond Checklist
Looking for a comprehensive checklist to guide your communications efforts? I turned to my friends at CEL Marketing PR Design and Finalsite for help! Please reference this CEL case study and this Finalsite article for more context and details.
⏰ Step 1: Start Early
CEL writes: “When is the right time to start working on a school referendum campaign? The day after your last campaign.”
Whether you can truly be this proactive or if you’re given a short on-ramp, the best time to start is now. The sooner you start planning for your district’s needs and start communicating those to your community, the better.
✅ Step 2: Solidify Core Messaging
Make sure you understand the ballot question, inside and out. You are responsible for communicating this initiative in plain, clear language that answers questions and reduces confusion. People aren’t going to vote in favor of (or vote at all) if they don’t understand it.
Finalsite provides this great list to help develop your messaging:
- What is the problem?
- What is the solution?
- What is the cost?
- Why is it urgent?
- What’s the value-added?
Some districts even come up with a campaign name or slogan, such as “Building Our Future” or “Delivering on Our Promises” (CEL’s example).
🧩 Step 3: Create Cohesive Communications Pieces
With a solid strategy in hand, you can now begin developing all of your communications materials for the campaign.
- Create a website or landing page on your school website
- Social media content calendar
- Internal communications and presentations
- Media relations materials
- How to Vote materials (e.g., bookmarks, informational postcards)
- Required notices
- Face-to-face meeting materials
- Training materials for staff (e.g., dos and don’ts, talking points)
- Building signage
- Phone and email scripts for voting reminders
📹 Step 4: Prioritize Video Communications
CEL outlines an excellent referendum success story, where video played a key role in communicating the district’s message. Here’s a snippet:
Videos are powerful communication tools that lend credibility and emotional connection to a message and create dynamic visual content to reach a larger audience. An informational video produced by Captivate Media featured recognizable people from the community (the mayor, beloved coaches, respected school leaders, teachers, and kids). The video reached thousands of residents and educated the public about the two proposed questions.
The district had one 2.5-minute video, which was then edited down into six bitesize videos for easy consumption.
🖥️ Step 5: Create a One-Stop Shop
Finalsite advises that all your campaign communications should be housed together:
A successful school bond campaign will consist of email newsletters, webinars, town hall meetings, and more. Make sure this content is easily accessible to people on your communications hub, and not just in their (very crowded) inbox where it might be missed.
A well-organized website or landing page on your existing website is a great place to keep everything up-to-date for your internal and external audiences.
Using Social Media as a Key Communications Tool
#SocialSchool4EDU manages social media for nearly 100 districts across the country. Over the last ten years, we’ve worked with over 150 ballot questions for 50+ different school districts!
If you have just ONE key takeaway from today’s blog, I want it to be this:
You should use social media to build trust with your community long before you ever have to ask for financial support.
Uplift your hard-working staff.
Share heart-warming student stories.
Bottom line: Celebratory social media content always wins! Even if you ran a bare-bones communications campaign for your ballot measure, a strong social media presence gives you a solid shot at earning those “yes” votes.
Don’t just use social media when you need to ask for something. Instead, use social media to celebrate the positive activity happening every day among your students and staff.
With that being said, you can still use social media more intentionally during a referendum/bond campaign. Districts that are proactive and strategic on social media are the most likely to receive a favorable voting result, so let’s walk through some of the best practices.
Tip 1: Continue Celebrating Your District
No matter if your referendum/bond campaign is heating up or you’re months (or years) away from your next ballot question, continue posting that celebratory content. Do NOT only post ballot-related content. Two to three times per week is a great goal for ballot-related content.
Tip 2: Stick to the Facts
Make sure that your content is factual and not overly biased. Schools aren’t allowed to ask for a “yes” vote, and instead, focus all their communications on educating the audience and encouraging them to go to the polls. Explain the financial impact and focus on the benefits a “yes” vote will create for your students, staff, and the community’s future.
Tip 3: Have a Strong Home Base
Just like Finalsite advised above, have a strong one-stop shop for all your referendum/bond-related information on your website.
Within your social media posts that reference the campaign, you can then include this sentence at the end of every caption and on the screen of every video: “For full details on ___, please visit ____.” This should help cut down on the number of questions you get on social media within the comments of your posts.
Tip 4: Decide if You’ll Allow Comments
Speaking of comments, you can use that same line, “Please visit (website)” as your go-to response for all questions received on social media. You also have the option of turning off comments on individual posts (Facebook) or your entire account (Instagram). This isn’t something I advise, but you do have this option.
Tip 5: Prioritize Video Content
Social media favors short videos – so whether you’re producing videos in-house or partnering with a company like Captivate Media + Consulting, which has deep experience with referendums – keep them under 60 seconds.
You can also create social media videos throughout the campaign to respond to questions that come up during town hall meetings.
Tip 6: Use Language Your Community Understands
Remember, even if YOU have been working on ballot campaigns your entire career, most people in your community have a very vague, surface-level understanding of what they mean.
Avoid jargon and lean into warm, inclusive verbiage that explains the ballot measure’s importance and impact.
Tip 7: Create Ads Early
Many school social media managers like to use Meta Ads or pay to “boost” posts and increase visibility. Make sure you seek Meta approval for political content EARLY! It can take weeks or even months to be approved.
Tip 8: Build a Support Network
Build a support network of people who will hit the “share” button and leave supportive comments about the referendum/bond campaign posts. This helps get your message out to the masses with a positive buzz. Shares, in particular, are VERY powerful, especially when a user adds their support for the ballot question.
Tip 9: Post a Thank You
No matter how the ballot measure goes, you should plan a simple “thank you for voting” message for your social media platforms, and share the results. I recommend waiting until the day after votes are tallied and have two versions of the post prepared, so you are ready to respond in either outcome.
These nine tips are also available in a handy PDF download! Click here to get your copy.
School Referendum/Bond Success Stories
I wouldn’t be Andrea Gribble of #SocialSchool4EDU if I didn’t leave you with some AMAZING examples of schools doing it right!! Get inspired by these districts’ hard work that helped their ballot measures pass:
Example 1: Morton School District, WA
Morton School District in rural Washington hadn’t passed a school bond since 1988, and its infrastructure desperately needed updates. In spring 2024, it passed a $24.5 million ballot measure with the required supermajority of the vote (over 60%) in favor!
The superintendent, John Hannah, attributes the success of this effort, in large part, to social media:
Being able to share not just the need but also the positives—what’s going on—like our sign language program in the elementary school, or STEM activities, or even a picture of a kid tying another’s shoe while waiting in line for lunch, really shows the perspective of how great our kids and staff are.
Keep reading this case study:
Example 2: Caledonia Community Schools, MI
Kelly Clark won a social media award for her work during her district’s 2023 bond. She used consistent branding and messaging throughout the campaign. She also mixed bond campaign posts with regular storytelling so that her page’s presence wasn’t one-note.
Read more about Kelly’s success story:
Example 3: Mustang Public Schools, OK
John Kirk Wilson’s social media approach during his school’s campaign was to take it “one post, one meeting, and one comment at a time!”
Mustang Public Schools is the fastest-growing school district in Oklahoma. John told a wide array of stories throughout their campaign and spent hours generating content and responding to comments on posts and inside community Facebook groups. The district also held over 70 public meetings!
John even won a social media award for this campaign; check it out!
Example 4: Platteville School District, WI
How would you move forward when others tell you the ballot question that your district is proposing is going to fail? Well, Jordyn Belken worked with her team at Platteville School District to achieve the ultimate underdog story!
Her communications efforts tailored the message to a diverse audience, used many mediums beyond social media, and put themselves in front of doubters.
Learn more about Jordyn’s award-winning campaign:
Get More Support for Your Ballot Measure
I need to share just one more helpful resource with you. Barbara Nicol, APR has deep experience in school ballot initiatives, and she opened up to share her expertise in one of my very first podcast episodes! Add this podcast to your playlist:
Now, I want to hear from you!! Head over to my Facebook page and let me know how you’re doing with your school district’s upcoming ballot measure. What other questions, success stories, and ideas can you share?
Remember, I believe in you, and I know you can do this. Take your campaign one step at a time, and I know you will put your school’s best foot forward. Keep telling those amazing stories!