It is disappointing that voters in District 88 turned down the two tax levy questions on Tuesday’s ballot. But the failure of the questions is not necessarily a blow to the district.

The district was asking to combine two soon-to-expire tax levies into one, and replace the two levies with the new one. One of the levies is due to expire after this year, the other after the next year. No doubt the district will be coming back next year to renew these levies. It was a question that would provide stability for district finances into the future. We are confident the voters of the district don’t want the quality of education slipping, and that the 88 votes by which the measure failed on Tuesday will be more than made up.

The other question, to levy an additional $200 per pupil tax to support the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, also failed. It doesn’t mean the CTE program is going away. We expect that as the program continues to serve and educate students and prepare them for good careers in the construction and manufacturing trades, people will see the value and support this question too.

Tuesday’s results are a setback, but not a debilitating one for the district, at least not yet. There is still time for the district to figure out how to make it work until voters can be given another question to approve.