ALPENA — Alpena Public Schools has no Plan B in place after voters on Tuesday widely rejected a $63 million bond proposal, Superintendent John VanWagoner said, because the district Board of Education had never discussed that prior to the election.

He said Wednesday they put the needed request on the ballot and there has never been a conversation about what would happen if it failed.

The proposal was rejected Tuesday by a more than 60%-to-40% margin. Money from the bonds would have funded facilities upgrades and repairs throughout the district.

VanWagoner said Wednesday the district is still disappointed about the results, but everyone was back at work and not letting the vote affect their job.

“They’re making sure rooms are clean and food is served and teachers are teaching and bus drivers are driving,” VanWagoner said. “We have great employees, and they’re being great professionals about it.”

The board will meet today at 6 p.m. Though there is nothing on the agenda that states that election results will be discussed, it is likely the board will talk about it.

“We have a special meeting just for a hearing and a few other things, but the board is going to want to take their time to go out and really get some input from the community,” VanWagoner said. “We’re going to wait a bit though and board members are going to want to go out and talk to people in the community.”

The board would have to submit a proposal by 4 p.m. Tuesday if it wanted to go for the bond proposal again on the August ballot.

The district sought the bonds because it has millions of dollars’ worth of facilities needs throughout the district. Those needs won’t go away, though the money has.

The district completed a facilities study that showed that over $120 million was needed for the schools, but the district only went for $63 million Tuesday. VanWagoner said the reality is that buildings will continue to deteriorate, and additional funding is needed to solve those problems.

“If that could come from the State of Michigan in some type of grant that can give us money for facilities versus having to go to the taxpayers for that, I’m sure our board would be all for that,” he said.

Of the 19 precincts in the school district, only three precincts, all located in the City of Alpena, voted for the bond proposal. VanWagoner said he didn’t know that, and said one thing that will have to happen is getting out and talking to people in the other precincts to get an understanding of how they voted.

“We’ve got a lot to learn from it, so that’s going to be the biggest thing moving forward for the next couple of months is just for us to get feedback,” VanWagoner said. “One of the responsibilities we have with this is to go and try and get input from voters that did take their time and vote.”

RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA

People have spoken their opinions about the bond proposal on social media. There are several people who were against the proposal because they believe the district should make money off of recreational marijuana. Schools will get a share of revenue from the sale of marijuana around the state, but it won’t be anywhere near the $63 million APS hoped for.

In the four months between November and February, for example, medical marijuana sales netted $3.5 million for the state, the Detroit Free Press reported earlier this year. That would get divvied up between the state, cities and hundreds of schools.

VanWagoner said there was confusion about the district’s proposal. He said that, with the recreational marijuana law being passed last year, there is still confusion about how that funding will work.

“That money is put in a big pot and then you only get a little bit of it,” he said. “That’s just our day-to-day operational cost and I think a lot of people don’t understand.”

Facebook user Jeff Baughman said in a comment online that the district had a chance to allow legal marijuana businesses and could have reaped that tax money.

“Now you want to raise our taxes? I think not. I encourage everyone to vote no to send a message to the olds running this town,” Baughman said on Facebook.

District boards of education do not have the ability to make any decisions about whether or not recreational marijuana stores are allowed or how money flows, VanWagoner said.

“It would be a very small amount, but we’ll take any small amount that we could get that will definitely help,” he said.

JAIL VS. SCHOOLS

People also stated on social media that, if the bond proposal would have been on the ballot before the Alpena County Jail proposal in November 2017, the bond would have passed.

Voters passed a 20-year, 1-mill property tax to cover the cost of bonds used to pay for the $11.4 million jail, which will be built on M-32.

“I’m not a political strategist or somebody that evaluates elections and those kind of things, but I just know that our board put out what they felt was what was needed to do, and the voters had their say,” VanWagoner said.

Facebook user Jay Dubbs said he understands people feeling taxed to death, but, if the millages were reversed, it would be better.

“We need better schools,” Dubbs said on Facebook. “Anyone who doesn’t understand the need for better schools needs to revisit the drawing board. I feel the burden of these millages, but what’s best for our community is a better school system.”

Facebook user Nikita Burns said it’s incredibly sad that the bond proposal failed, since the jail passed in 2017.

“The town can approve a new jail … but can’t get safe school buildings for our children!” Burns said on Facebook.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at 989-358-5688 or jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jkgoldberg12.