A coalition that successfully convinced voters to nix the MCAS graduation requirement for high school students spent just over $8 per vote during last year’s state election, according to a report released Thursday by campaign finance regulators. The tens of millions dished out on the fight between a teacher’s union and business groups to remove the standardized test as the gateway to high school graduation made it the most expensive of the five ballot questions during the 2024 state election. The Committee for High Stakes, Not High Standards, which largely drew its money from the Massachusetts Teachers Association, dropped almost $1 million on the ballot question but received another $15.6 million in donated services or materials known as in-kind contributions. The committee spent $8.25 per vote when combining expenditures and in-kind contributions, according to a report from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page said supporters of the measure “knew we had to be very present in all ways,” especially when business groups opposed the question and drew a multi-million dollar donation from Michael Bloomberg, the New York billionaire. “I’m proud that our union is willing to commit members’ dues to important campaigns when we need to go to the ballot,” Page told the Herald. “We have a very good track record.” The Massachusetts Teachers Association was also behind the successful effort to implement the 4% surtax on incomes over $1 million and the opposition to a question in 2016 that would have lifted the cap on the number of new or expanded charter schools each year. A former spokesperson for the opposition to the MCAS question referred the Herald to the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, which did not immediately respond to an inquiry Thursday afternoon. The opposition group, or the Protect Our Kids’ Future campaign, spent $5.3 million trying to defeat the MCAS ballot question. But the group suffered a defeat at the ballot box, with over 59% of the vote heading to supporters. The group that opposed a ballot question that would have decriminalized psychedelics for mental health treatments got the most bang for their buck, campaign finance records show. The Coalition for Safe Communities spent nearly $129,000 during the election cycle, or roughly 7 cents per vote, according to campaign finance regulators. The group raised most of its cash from Sam Action Inc., a Virginia-based organization that is opposed to drug legalization policies. Chris Keohan, a spokesperson for the coalition, said the group was confident it could win even with “minimal funding” and in the face of extensive fundraising by supporters. “I think the results have started to speak for themselves,” he told the Herald, adding the question was “poorly written” and “fatally flawed.” Massachusetts for Mental Health Options, the organization that backed the question, doled out $7.7 million in their unsuccessful push to convince voters to support the measure. The group spent $5.35 per vote, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s campaign to give her office the explicit authority to investigate the Legislature had the second-best value, with an average of 18 cents spent per vote in support of the ballot question. DiZoglio’s coalition, the Committee for Transparent Democracy, spent $414,808 during the election cycle and received $22,248 in in-kind contributions, according to state campaign finance regulators. The question passed with nearly 72% of the vote, according to data from Secretary of State William Galvin’s Office. A spokesperson for the Committee for Transparent Democracy said the question earned a landslide victory without spending a lot of money on paid advertising or social media “because the people of Massachusetts want their Legislature to be more transparent and accountable.” “It’s a very simple but powerful concept that, unfortunately, legislative leaders are still choosing to ignore. Through the tireless efforts of Auditor DiZoglio and our broad, bipartisan coalition, we are confident that the will of the voters will be enforced and that the public will get the accountable, transparent government they deserve,” the spokesperson said in a statement. DiZoglio has since found herself locked in a battle with Beacon Hill Democrats over a renewed effort to audit the Legislature. Top lawmakers say they are concerned about the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches while the Methuen Democrat contends voters have given her a clear mandate to pursue an investigation. The committee behind another successful ballot question that granted rideshare drivers working for companies like Uber and Lyft the right to unionize spent nearly $7.3 million, or an average of $4.10 per vote, according to state campaign finance data. United for Justice, a group backed by the Service Employees International Union, went unopposed and earned just over 54% of the vote, according election statistics. The coalition that opposed a ballot question reforming minimum wages for tipped workers spent $1.17 per vote, the report said. The Committee to Protect Tips spent $2.5 million to beat back the question while supporters spent nearly $2 million including in-kind contributions. Overall spending between the five ballot questions in 2024 surpassed $25 million, state regulators said in the report. That was well short of the record $65 million dished out in 2022 when four questions appeared on the ballot related to taxes on incomes over $1 million, dental insurance regulations, expanded licenses for alcohol, and drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants.