Voters in nine of 17 school districts approved more than $125 million in school-construction spending on Sept. 27.

So far in 2006, voters have approved 23 of 37 school-construction proposals that total a quarter billion dollars. The 62-percent success rate for 2006 school-construction proposals is slightly higher than the 58 percent rate of 2005—but still well behind averages of the previous five years, during which voters approved nearly three-quarters of all proposals. A major factor in those elections was the state construction grant program for non-Abbott districts, which offset the amount of financing needed to be funded through local property taxes.