Using a questionnaire survey and census data, the author sought to determine the effect of administrator effort and other selected administrative, fiscal, and socioeconomic variables on the results of Illinois school district tax elections. All educational tax referenda in the state's unit and elementary school districts in the years 1975-78 were studied. Administrative data came from the survey while fiscal and socioeconomic data were drawn from censuses and state publications. Analysis using multiple regression and discriminant function techniques indicated that the relationship between election results and the three groups of variables is weak. Among the few effects revealed are that elections, according to most survey respondents, are won or lost for reasons unique to the district; that the "reward for effort" concept in the state aid formula (since removed by the Illinois legislature) was the only significant administrative variable; that socioeconomic variables account for most of the variance in the data; and that voter educational level is the strongest predictor of election outcomes. (Author/RW)