DOVER (WJER) -  Voters rejected the school district’s five-year, 6.9-mill operating levy Tuesday by almost a thousand votes. 2,530 people voted against the levy, about 61 percent, compared to 1,589 who voted for it. 

Superintendent Carla Birney says it is too early to lay out the district’s next step. 

“We’ve stretched the levy cycle for over 10 years from our last operating levy, and after years of budget reductions and really working toward lean fiscal management,” she says. “These funds are necessary, and the need is not going to go away.”

This is the second straight election cycle where Dover voters rejected a school levy. An 8.9-mill request failed in November.

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