MARYSVILLE — With the $32 million construction bond for the Marysville School District failing to get the required supermajority in the April 27 special election, MSD Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland noted that the school district’s course from here is uncertain.

“We’ll need to digest this for a while, and figure out what this means for our technology and our ability to maintain eight buildings that are close to 60 years old,” Nyland said. “I’m obviously disappointed at the outcome, because I think we missed a wonderful opportunity to lower property owners’ taxes at the same time that we would have addressed our district’s technology, safety and facility replacement needs. At the same time, I understand that these are tough economic times, and I’ll take the responsibility for not getting our message out the community.”

As of 8 p.m. April 27, with 9,983 ballots counted, the bond measure has received 5,034 “yes” votes, for 50.43 percent of the vote, and 4,949 “no” votes, for 49.57 percent of the vote. It needs a 60 percent supermajority “yes” vote to pass.

Nyland explained that the bond issue would be revisited with the Citizens Planning Committee, as well as the campaign and oversight committees, and added that the earliest that any bond could be run again would be February of 2011.

“Previously, we only had one building in the history of the Marysville School District that was used for 62 years,” Nyland said. “I’ve heard some people say, ‘My house is older than that,’ but with one student for every 100 square feet in those buildings, that would be like having 20 kids in your house for six hours a day for that many years.”

The school district had previously put a $78 million bond on the Feb. 11 ballot, to replace the district’s three oldest school buildings . It only received 53 percent of the vote, falling short of the required 60 percent supermajority. The $32 million bond would replace the Cascade Elementary school building, which Nyland deemed “our worst school building” based on the consensus of a number of engineers and architects who have examined it, but at the same time, he emphasized that the bond would also cover improvements to technology and health and safety for the district as a whole.

“It feels like we’re throwing good money after bad by spending it on these existing buildings, rather than replacing them,” Nyland said.