Election 2018: Superintendent Reacts to Failed Levy Question

SARTELL -- What's next for the Sartell-St. Stephen school district now that voters have rejected an operating levy to run the new high school that is currently being built?

Superintendent Jeff Schwiebert says he and the board will need to take some time to decide the next steps.

We're going to take a minute to take a step back and figure those things out.  We will be moving into our new high school on schedule next fall.  We're going to have to find a way to come up with three-percent out of our current budget to make that work.

Schwiebert says he's not sure yet if they'll try to pass another levy question again. He says they didn't get their message across like they'd hoped.

The operating levy question would have replaced the current $325 per student with a levy of $760 per student for the next 10 years.

The question failed by a 60 percent to 40 percent margin.