The real problem is not many people get involved with there local school budgets, so ridiculous proposals come up on referendums
My real life example is our school board (made up mostly with retired teachers) decided that our high school is to old (built in 1976) and the joinor high school needed to be replaced, so they came up with a $98m proposal for a new highschool, it got voted down. Then, they (school board) said it failed because they did ask for enough money (Bigger high school) so they came back a year later with a $113M dollar proposal and then Covid hit, they now knew this was their opportunity and held a referendum on it and guess what, almost no elderly came to vote (too scared of Covid) and it passes
Now 2 years later the school is built but now the budget does not meet the cost, it has been stated they are $60m short and still need a swimming pool (the other high school has one) and the gym is not big enough
Every time I drive by this new school (now the second largest in the state) I give it the finger. I hope all the young familys with their $300,000 homes and 3 kids enjoy their higher taxes they voted for.