School officials were surprised when the $230 million school bond measure was defeated with only a 48 percent approval vote. It needed 60 percent to pass.

“We didn’t hear anything negative,” Marysville School District Superintendent Becky Berg said.

City Councilman Michael Stevens, who went doorbelling in support of the measure, likewise said he heard from very few people who opposed the bond. “People saw the need,” he said.

Finance director Jim Baker said the district has great administration, teachers and students. “We have everything but that last piece,” he said, regarding updated schools.

School board president Pete Lundberg said he was proud of the effort of all of those who worked on the campaign.

Berg especially praised Emily Wicks and Christen Dickerson, co-directors for Citizens for Marysville Schools. “They were driven by a mission,” she said of the two Marysville-Pilchuck High School graduates. “They went at it with heart and passion.”

As a veteran of school funding wars, Berg said the district will just have to double-down its efforts in getting the word out. “We’re not going to give up,” Berg said, adding voters need to take a “leap of faith” that these needed changes would help the entire economy. “This isn’t just a little facelift.”

School board member Tom Albright said he also was disappointed. “It doesn’t change the need,” he said. “There’s no easy answer.”

Lundberg said it is too early to say when a bond would return to the voters, and what form it would take. “How would you tell kids they are going to be left out?” he asked.