Billions in Bonds on Your Ballot

As the 2024 election approaches, we’re going to turn our gaze away from the drama and tragic-comedy on the national stage, and instead play a little follow-the-money.

If you opened the ballot that arrived in your mailbox last week, you may have noticed two bond measures totalling $20 billion. (Yes – that’s two-zero times a B-B-B-Billion dollars.)  

This is how the state of California does the big business of running the fifth-largest economy in the world. We hold an election and say “yay” or “nay” to the biggest questions about spending money. (To be clear, that’s “yay” not “Yay!”)

And while I don’t blame you if you’re daunted by the sheer size of those numbers, let me tell you that the one bond measure provides the first investment in California’s school facilities in nearly a decade, and the other helps protect us all from dying in a nightmarish climate-crisis-induced catastrophe. 

Proposition 4, Parks, Environment, Energy, and Water Bond Measure, authorizes a $10 billion bond to cover the costs of programs addressing issues including sea level rise and sustainable farming. It is needed to offset recent cuts to popular programs that address climate-related issues. 

Proposition 2, Public Education Facilities Bond Measure, allows the state to issue a $10-billion bond to pay for the repair, renovation and modernization of public school buildings and community college campuses. Of that money, $8.5 billion goes toward TK-12 schools while community colleges get $1.5 billion.

And that’s not all: Prop 2 has resulted in a slew of local bond measures—because to receive these state funds, local school districts have to put up their own money and apply for matching funds from the state. This is being done on a sliding scale that provides a bigger match to low-income districts.

Okay, so how exactly do bonds work? To help it make more sense, here’s our friend and colleague Chris Neklason.