The referendum to expand the Indian River School District campuses has failed.
The tax increase lost by a vote of just over 38-hundred to 31-hundred.
Superintendent Mark Steele told the Wilmington News Journal that he was disappointed in the outcome but respected the voter’s wishes.
The referendum was an effort to deal with a rapidly growing student population.
He told the paper that Sussex Central is so crowded that students must shuffle through the halls “like a group of zombies”.
But the district has not given up and is looking at another referendum this year.
