VOTERS DIDN'T PUSH ENVELOPE IN VOTING ON REFERENDUMS

WASHINGTON -- Voters sorted through the 204 state initiatives and
referendums on their ballots -- some strikingly conservative, others very
liberal -- and generally cast don't-push-the-envelope moderate votes.

By more than 3-to-1, for example, voters in California and Michigan turned
down proposals that would have committed their states to offering school
vouchers -- measures that would have had profound effects on public
schools. But in a reflection of the good economic times, U.S. voters
approved almost all school-funding proposals, including $3.1 billion in
bonds for higher education in South Carolina.

Colorado, facing a school-financing crunch because of a tax freeze imposed
by an earlier referendum, voted to require the legislature to increase
per-pupil spending by the rate of inflation plus one percentage point for
the next decade. Oregon voters passed a measure requiring the legislature
to provide enough money to the schools to allow them to meet state learning
goals.

Reflecting the unease of many voters that more money hasn't always resulted
in better schools in the past, Arizona agreed to raise the sales tax to
5.6% from 5% with the difference going to education, but it linked teacher
pay raises to student performance. Arizona voters banned bilingual
education, apparently swayed by the academic success of Hispanic students
in California after a similar ban passed there. An Oregon measure that
would have linked teachers' pay to the academic success of their students,
upending long-established pay scales and seniority rights, was defeated,
however.

Ballot Initiatives

State Measure Outcome Michigan, California State-funded school vouchers for
use in private schools Defeated Colorado, Oregon Background checks before
gun-show purchases Passed Arizona End bilingual education Passed Maine
Allow doctor-assisted suicide Defeated Arizona, Colorado Set growth limits
in populated areas Defeated Nebraska, Nevada Ban gay marriages Passed
Colorado, Nevada Allow medical use of marijuana Passed Montana, South
Dakota Repeal inheritance tax laws Passed Alaska Allow wolf hunting from
airplanes Passed Alabama Repeal laws against interracial marriage Passed

"The voters clearly weren't willing to vote on anything they felt might
have a negative impact" on the schools, said Dane Waters, president of the
Initiative and Referendum Institute, which tracks such measures. Jeanne
Allen, head of the Center for Education Research, an advocate of school
choice, agreed. "I don't think people are comfortable making policy" on an
issue as sweeping as vouchers, she said. Ms. Allen insisted the voucher
movement isn't dead but will move now to state legislatures, where "the
debate tends to go farther."

Also striking a moderate stance, voters in Maine rejected a measure that
would have allowed doctor-assisted suicides, while Colorado voters rejected
a measure that would have required a 24-hour waiting period for women
seeking an abortion. Massachusetts rejected universal health-care coverage,
apparently heeding warnings from prominent doctors that it could wreck the
state's health-care system.

Colorado and Oregon, which have both suffered school shootings in the past
two years, passed measures requiring background checks of people seeking to
buy weapons at a gun show. Congress has sparred for two years on a similar
measure, with Republicans refusing to allow a vote.

State inheritance taxes were abolished in Montana and South Dakota, moves
that Mr. Waters predicted will energize the movement to end the federal
death tax. Massachusetts voters gave themselves a $1.2 billion tax cut. But
tax measures were more moderate in other states, with Oregon, Alaska and
Colorado rejecting sweeping tax cuts, and Arizona, Colorado and Georgia
passing property-tax relief for senior citizens.

One of the election's big losers was the nation's drug war, as voters in
five states agreed to measures limiting the tactics of law-enforcement
officers. Utah voted to send the proceeds of drug seizures to a statewide
school fund, rather than to law-enforcement agencies, while Oregon voters
required that police obtain convictions before seizing a suspect's property.

Elsewhere, voters in Nevada and Colorado approved the medical use of
marijuana, an issue that has been denounced by law-enforcement
organizations that contend the ingredients that are beneficial in marijuana
can already be obtained with a prescription in tablet form. Meanwhile,
California voters approved a measure requiring treatment programs rather
than jail time for first- and second-time drug offenders.

Bill Zimmerman, head of the Campaign for New Drug Policies, which pushed
the drug initiatives and was funded by financier George Soros, among
others, said the results show that "voters are saying to elected officials,
'we don't want to put more money into a policy that is not working.' "

In Alaska, however, voters turned down a proposal that would have given the
state the most lax marijuana law in the country by allowing anyone over 18
to use the drug and giving amnesty to anyone convicted of marijuana-related
crimes.

Gay rights also were a big loser, with voters in Nebraska and Nevada
banning same-sex marriages, and Nebraska even refusing to recognize a gay
marriage that might be valid in another state.

Maine voters went further still, refusing to outlaw discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation. But Oregon voters apparently defeated a
measure that would forbid public-school teachers from encouraging,
promoting or sanctioning homosexuality.

Environmentalists suffered big defeats, with voters in Colorado and Arizona
rejecting measures that would have put the brakes on suburban sprawl.
Oregon voters required the state to compensate landowners if their property
loses value because of growth limits. Arizona's measure also would have
forced developers to pay for roads, schools and other services to new
subdivisions.

Proposals in Washington and Oregon to ban trapping and poisoning animals
also failed.

But in one big victory for environmentalists, Florida voters approved a
plan for a high-speed rail service that would link five cities in the
Sunshine State.

Gary Fields and Peter Grant contributed to this article.

Corrections and Amplifications:

JEANNE ALLEN is president of the Center for Education Reform in Washington.
The article misidentified the group as the Center for Education Research.