Levy campaigns use political tactics

Volunteers contact friends and neighbors and ask them to vote for the levies.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- School districts are turning to old-school political strategy to ask voters to spend more money on their kids' education.
Voters will decide 187 school issues May 2.
To increase the likelihood of passage, districts are turning to professionals like B.J. Fischer, senior account manager at Funk Luetke Skunda Marketing in Toledo.
The company has managed levy campaigns in Toledo for about 15 years.
Many of its tactics are common to candidate campaigns, but the key is reaching out to parents in the community, Fischer said.
"We do a lot of phone banking. That can be done a lot of different ways. It works best when you have volunteers making the calls," Fischer said.
Supporters of the ballot measures hope the efforts will improve on the mixed results from recent elections. In May 2005, 55 percent passed, while just 37 percent passed in August elections, and 57 percent passed in November.
Alice Dillion is one of hundreds of volunteers using voter lists to contact friends and neighbors and encourage them to vote for a $75 million school bond issue for the Hilliard school system in suburban Columbus.
She's hitting up parents of children in her daughter's Brownie troop and co-workers.
"Its a great idea," Dillion said. "Hopefully, it will work."
What's being done
Campaign committees are increasing their budgets, using Internet sites, raising money through auctions and calling on local celebrities.
"You can't just go to the voters and ask them to just do what's right for the kids anymore," said Larry Jenkins, chairman of the Our Schools, Our Community campaign in suburban Westerville.
"You have to run a true political issue campaign. You've got to convince the voters. You've got to be talking to them. You can't just assume that community spirit is going to pass the issue."
Some school campaigns have hired consultants to help design literature, advise on campaign strategies and offer tips for public speaking.
"The stakes keep going up in terms of the need to pass levy issues," said Jonathan Benedict, associate vice president for Burges & amp; Burges Strategists in Euclid, a Cleveland suburb.
Hilliard and Westerville schools both have hired the company to help with their current campaigns.
Campaigns are becoming more sophisticated to reach voters who aren't persuaded by yard signs, said Scott Ebright, spokesman for the Ohio School Boards Association.
"The best way to do that is to ask someone one-on-one," he said.