This week’s “Daily Journal” guest columnist is Terry Stoops, Education Policy Analyst for the John Locke Foundation.

This year, North Carolinians saw four school bond referendums on November ballots, the fewest since 2003. Last year’s defeat of the $427 million Charlotte-Mecklenburg bond and this year’s defeat of the $45 million Franklin County bond prompted some public school systems to rethink plans to hold bond referendums this year. Many, including me, shared the belief that voters would continue to defeat bonds to signal their displeasure with North Carolina’s floundering public schools.

Instead, voters bucked the trend and passed all four bond requests, including those in Hoke County ($20 million), Union County ($174.5 million), Forsyth County ($250 million), and Wake County ($970 million). In particular, the approval of the massive Wake County school bond will give school systems like Johnston and Guilford the confidence they needed to move ahead with plans to place bond referendums on the ballot next year.

So what made these bonds appealing to voters, and what can we learn from Tuesday’s bond referendum votes?

Hoke County: Voters will support a school bond that addresses immediate needs and does not raise taxes.

Of Tuesday’s four school bond referendums, the Hoke County bond was, by far, the least controversial one. Voters overwhelmingly passed the bond with “yes” votes totalling 78 percent.

Due to steady population growth in neighboring Cumberland County, the Hoke County school system has grown by more than 600 students in the last five years. To accommodate this growth, school leaders recently used existing resources to add 73 classrooms to a handful of school buildings. Yet, the school system required additional funds to build two new schools: a new elementary and a new modular middle school.

Wisely, they put a bond referendum before voters that addressed only the school system’s most immediate needs and one that would not require a tax increase. The county will use revenue from the local sales tax and lottery proceeds to repay the debt.

Union County: Voters will support a school bond if someone promises “easy” solutions, like sticking it to developers and/or newbies.

Union County voters easily passed a $174.5 million school bond, as 60 percent supported the plan. Bond funds will pay for five new schools, additions, renovations, support facilities, and stadium improvements. Since 1998, voters passed $322 million in school construction bonds to accommodate about 12,000 additional students. Many of these new students came from families that moved to Union County in order to escape neighboring Mecklenburg County’s high taxes and failing schools.

Approval of the bond went hand in hand with the county’s attempt to restrict growth. The Union County Commission recently lifted a 15-month moratorium on subdivision permits to pass an Adequate Public Facilities ordinance. The ordinance coerces developers into either delaying construction until area schools are built or paying a fee of $15,000 per new home. Rather than waiting for schools to be built, most developers will simply pay the fee and pass it onto the homebuyer in the form of higher prices. With an Adequate Public Facilities ordinance in effect, residents of Union County felt comfortable supporting a school bond as long as they believed that the county’s school construction burden would soon fall on someone else’s shoulders, namely developers and newcomers.

Dr. Donald Jud, professor emeritus of economics at UNC-Greensboro, pointed out that Union County officials must control government spending growth, not levy taxes and fees that burden some residents at the expense of others. Dr. Jud argues, “If government officials just would limit the growth of spending to the rate of population plus inflation growth … new single-family development would pay for itself.” Indeed, growth does pay for itself when government exercises fiscal restraint, a lesson that many in Union County have yet to learn.

Forsyth County: Voters will support a bond if the school system is efficient and gives choices to parents.

Forsyth County’s $250 million bond overwhelmingly passed with 65 percent of the vote. The funds will pay for the construction of 10 new schools, three replacement elementary schools, and renovations to 14 other schools. Since 1995, voters have passed $244 million in school construction bonds to accommodate about 9,000 additional students.

The strong support for the bond was not surprising. Parents have had many reasons to be pleased with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. As I have pointed out elsewhere, Forsyth County’s building program is a model of efficiency and excellence. For example, a proposed 800-seat elementary school building will cost about $16.5 million, compared to $22 million for a proposed 800-seat elementary school in Wake County. That means that the Forsyth County elementary school building will cost 25 percent less than one built in Wake County.

Most parents are also pleased with Forsyth’s school choice plan. Under this plan, parents may select an elementary or middle school for their child, but the school must sit in their attendance zone. Parents also have the choice of sending their child to a magnet school or a school outside of their attendance zone, as long as there is space available and the parents provide transportation. The building program funded by the bond will extend the choices already available to parents.

Wake County: Voters will support a bond if proponents outspend opponents 15 to 1.

Enough said.

It is inevitable that some voters will be seduced by a well-funded campaign or the promise of a “quick fix.” Fortunately, most voters want school bonds that avoid tax increases, preclude wasteful spending, and expand choices for parents. That is a lesson worth repeating.