Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared victory Tuesday night in his campaign to get California voters' approval for billions of dollars in borrowing to help manage the state's fiscal crisis.

Voters decisively passed the governor's $15 billion Economic Recovery Bond Act and an accompanying proposition requiring state lawmakers to pass a balanced budget.

They also followed his lead in rejecting Proposition 56, a measure designed to make it easier for lawmakers to pass a budget and raise taxes.

Proposition 55, a $12.3 billion bond measure for school construction, was too close to call with more than 70 percent of the vote counted.

"We have removed the financial sword that was hanging over California's head," Schwarzenegger told supporters at a victory party at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica.

Proposition 57, the governor's bond measure, was leading 62 percent to 38 percent. Proposition 58, the balanced budget proposal, was ahead 71 percent to 29 percent. Proposition 56 was being soundly rejected, with 65 percent opposed and 35 percent in favor.

Votes on Proposition 55, the school bond issue, were almost evenly divided, with 52 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed.

Schwarzenegger thanked voters for their assistance. "We have a massive weight that wemust lift off our state," he said. "Alone, I cannot lift it. But together we can. And you did the lifting today, you went out there and you lifted this massive weight off this state."

The bond measure will let the state cover part of its multibillion- dollar budget gap with debt that can be paid back over the next decade.

Proposition 58 requires lawmakers to pass a balanced budget, earmark revenues for a budget reserve and ban borrowing to cover deficits in the future.

Administration officials said they now will turn to revising the $99 billion budget theGOPgovernor released in January. The bond issue alone will not be enough to solve the budget problem, so Schwarzenegger also has asked lawmakers to approve billions of dollars in spending cuts and other cost savings.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides, one of the few elected officials who publicly opposed the bond measure, called Tuesday night for lawmakers to adopt budget solutions that include closing corporate tax loopholes and taxing the wealthy as they consider Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts in services and fee hikes for lowincome families and students.

"Balancing the budget has just begun," Angelides said. "Essentially, the governor's approach would put all the burden of balancing the budget on the backs of children and working people."

Former Gov. Pete Wilson called the performance of Propositions 57 and 58 a "great personal victory" for Schwarzenegger.

"When he began, he was at the bottom," said Wilson, who was in Los Angeles with the governor. "By his barnstorming and traveling the state ...making the case in terms people could understand, he's convinced people to change their minds."

Schwarzenegger took office vowing to fix the state's finances without raising taxes, and Propositions 57 and 58 were part of his proposed solution. Getting the Legislature to put the measures on the ballot soon after he took office was the first big test of the governor's political strength.

At first, it seemed he might fail. Lawmakers in early December rejected his first proposal, which included a cap on state spending. But Schwarzenegger returned to the bargaining table and brokered a late-night compromise with Democrats. He didn't get the spending cap he wanted, but he got the balanced-budget provision instead.

That was just the first hurdle.

Schwarzenegger began campaigning throughout the state for the measures he dubbed the California Economic Recovery Act. Soon, Democratic leaders such as state Controller Steve Westly and U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein were also publicly supporting the bond measure.

At the start, polls showed voters opposed the $15 billion bond. But at the same time that he was trying to persuade Californians to approve his initiatives, Schwarzenegger also was raising millions of dollars to get his message out in television ads. That fund-raising included a controversial bigticket event in New York.

Soon after ads for Propositions 57 and 58 began airing in February, the polls showed a dramatic turnaround, almost unprecedented in a state where historically most ballot measures that started out with little public support have failed.

By taking the bond issue directly to the voters, Schwarzenegger sought to avoid legal challenges that have stopped past state borrowing attempts. The bonds from Proposition 57 will replace a $10.7 billion bond issue proposed as part of the current budget that is being disputed in court because it was not approved by voters.

Whether the bonds will be enough to close the state's budget shortfall remains to be seen. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, using more pessimistic assumptions about state revenue and expenses than the administration, has said the governor's budget proposal is "modestly out of balance."

Election night marked a victory for business interests that opposed Proposition 56 and defeat for the state employee unions and other Democratic interests that supported it.

The measure would have allowed the Legislature to approve a state budget or a tax hike with a vote of 55 percent, instead of the two-thirds majority currently required. It also would have docked lawmakers' pay if they failed to pass a budget on time.

Although polls showed voters had at first been evenly divided on the measure, opponents gained traction with ads suggesting it would give legislators a "blank check" to raise taxes. Proponents disputed that, but their message - focusing on the provision that would punish lawmakers for budget delays - failed to resonate.

Gale Kaufman, the Democratic consultant who ran the Yes on 56 campaign, said she believed the measure's proposed solution to the state's budget problems got lost amid the attention focused on Propositions 57 and 58.

"I think voters said they want a solution," Kaufman said. "They want to see the Legislature working together to get the budget done, and unfortunately for us, they chose 57 and 58 as that solution. I certainly don't think they did it because they're feeling good about debt. I think that they did it because of the persuasiveness of the governor's argument."