OWENSVILLE — Gasconade County R-2 Assistant Superintendent Dr. Staci Johnson reflected this past week to the third failed attempt at passing a no-tax-increase bond issue.

The most recent attempt to pass the Gasconade County R-2 no-tax-increase bond issue failed to reach the 4/7th (57.14 percent) majority vote with a tally of 1,281 yes (52 percent) and 1,181 no (47.9 percent) during the April 7 election.

Johnson said people who were against the bond had their reasons.

“I think that people who were opposed to the bond all have different reasons,” said Johnson. “Every individual’s opinion is a valid one.”

She said that there was a spread of misinformation regarding district funding and how bonds fit in.

“Just the idea of how school funding works and also the idea that general obligation bonds are some kind of unique thing that school districts don’t do,” said Johnson. “The majority of school districts in the state of Missouri have a debt-service levy. It’s a healthy way to move forward to build projects.”

Johnson said school districts in Missouri operate with the help of debt-service levies.

“Hearing people say ‘we don’t think the school district should have any debt at all is not really how Missouri public schools operate. Regardless, if that’s the will of the voters, we’ve got to listen to that too,” said Johnson.

She said that she appreciated those who voted against the bond because they engaged with the process — patrons who came to the tours at the high school or to Meet the Candidates Night and called or emailed questions.

“I don’t judge anyone personally on the way that they vote, but I love seeing people that want to engage and learn before they make a decision,” said Johnson.

Johnson said trying to engage people with the voting process about bonds will be a goal for the district moving forward, so that voters can be informed.

The bond received a simple majority vote, but failed to pass the 4/7ths majority requirement.

“It is a little frustrating, but we’re going to move forward,” said Johnson.

The board will review the district’s funds to continue to maintain buildings.

“There are some other things we can do about that debt service, moving it to a different fund, talking about our operating levy,” said Johnson. “Those are some things that we could still do to move forward with our projects, but also respect the will of a large percentage of our voters, which said, ‘this is not the way we want to do it.’”

Johnson said that she was thankful for people who didn’t have a direct connection to the district and advocated for the bond issue anyway.

“It made me proud to have a community that’s willing to do that,” said Johnson. “There were some people that worked really hard, just behind the scenes, in terms of advocating for this bond. They weren’t looking for things or somebody to recognize that. They just did that because they wanted to, and I think that’s what makes this whole system that we have a good one: the idea that individuals can make a difference.”

She added she will be looking at attracting voters who have children in the district.

“We need young people to come out and vote. We need people that are in that time of their lives where they have children and are going to be impacted by these decisions; we need that demographic to make sure that they’re voting,” said Johnson.