Battle Ground and Hockinson school funding measures were failing as of early election returns Tuesday.
Both school districts returned to voters after their measures failed in February.
Battle Ground voters were again rejecting the district’s four-year, $166.3 million levy. The measure received 10,282 “no” votes (51.62 percent) to 9,636 “yes” votes (48.38 percent), according to Clark County’s elections office.
“We’re not giving up yet. We’ll be monitoring results. We tend to gain with the late votes. If that holds true, it’s going to come down to the wire,” Battle Ground Superintendent Denny Waters said. “If it doesn’t pass, we’ve got to make $20 million worth of cuts.”
Hockinson’s 21-year, $87 million bond received 46.92 percent approval Feb. 11, well short of the 60 percent supermajority required for such a measure pass. The district revised its request and sought a six-year, $12.735 million school safety and security capital levy, which requires 50 percent to pass.
The measure was failing with 1,334 “no” votes (55.98 percent) to 1,049 “yes” votes (44.02 percent).
“While these are initial results, it looks like it’s far too big of a differential to overcome. So it is disappointing,” Hockinson Superintendent Steve Marshall said in an email. “At the same time, I respect the voice of our voters and understand that this is an uncertain time for residents financially. … We will continue to do all we can with the resources available to us as we work to address the needs of our schools and support our staff and students.”
