EUREKA — Voters in Eureka narrowly rejected a $22.5 million bond proposal to replace outdated school buildings by a margin of 123 votes.
"Unfortunately, we still came up short, and that's disappointing for all of us," said Eureka School District Superintendent Joel Graves.
It has been more than 20 years since the Eureka School District last approved a bond request.
The district will have to wait longer after voters rejected the $22.5 million bond proposal to replace an outdated elementary and middle school.
"It's not if something breaks again, it's when the next thing breaks and how much it's going to cost," Graves said. "And it's really hard to budget for those things because you have no idea what, you know, it's often in a wall or in the floor where you can't see it, it's not like something you can just observe and fix it ahead of time, it's usually after a disaster happens."
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Graves said the core section of the middle school is more than 100 years old and deteriorating.
He said money is regularly taken from the general fund for temporary fixes.
"Those are the things that are a challenge for us, both of these buildings need to be re-roofed, which comes with a very hefty price tag, so we will have to figure out how to accomplish that as well," Graves said.
Graves said high gas prices may have contributed to some voters rejecting the bond proposal.
He said rising fuel costs are increasing expenses for the district.
"Springtime is a very busy time in schools with sports and field trips and all these kind of things," Graves said. "And it costs a lot of money when those gas prices go up, and we're feeling that pinch severely right now."
