VOTERS IN THE Norway-Vulcan Area School District will decide Tuesday whether to allow the district to levy up to 2 mills for 10 years for a sinking fund to pay for maintenance, repairs and construction of district facilities. A similar measure failed in March 2020 by only 15 votes. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

NORWAY — Officials at Norway-Vulcan Area Schools are searching for answers and options after district voters Tuesday soundly defeated a 2-mill, 10-year proposal that would have created a sinking fund to pay for future maintenance needs.

Results from the city of Norway, Norway Township and Waucedah Township in Dickinson County showed 585 no votes to 487 yes, while Faithorn Township in Menominee County turned down the measure with 620 no to 505 yes.

It was the second time in less than 18 months that voters rejected a proposal to create a sinking fund. A similar 10-year, 3-mill — or $3 per $1,000 of taxable property value — sinking fund request in March 2020 fell short by just 15 votes, 663 to 648.

“I was disappointed but not surprised,” Superintendent Lou Steigerwald said of Tuesday’s results.

“I was not surprised,” added Cory Heigl, NVAS school board president. “With parents and community members energized against the board’s mask mandates, I certainly noticed an organized effort on social media to use the ballot to voice their dissatisfaction.”

District officials drew the ire of some local residents, especially members of Norway Families for Freedom, when it put in place a districtwide mask requirement for kindergarten through sixth grade in September.

“Whenever an organization is going through a period of controversy, it generates a lot of emotion,” Steigerwald said. “Seeing as we were the only district in the U.P. not to pass its referendum and knowing the level of emotion right now, I’d say that was the biggest difference.”

But Norway Families for Freedom members are not taking credit for the defeat of the ballot proposal.

“Our vote had absolutely nothing to do with the mask mandate,” said Saunja Morgan, one of the administrators for the group’s Facebook page, which has more than 460 followers. “Instead, it had everything to do with how the money itself has been budgeted in the last year.

“NVAS’ yearly budget and income is all available online. There were many people who were posting it,” Morgan added. “I know many, including myself, who saw that the budget in the last year was met poorly. So, the fact that they were asking for a 2.0 millage just seemed outrageous. This is why we decided to vote in the way we did. It had nothing to do with the mandate.”

Sarah Lake, another of the group’s leaders, agreed.

“That proposal has failed several times,” Lake said. “Our group wasn’t even started when it had failed in previous years. You know why it failed? It failed because there is mistrust in our public institutions. It’s as simple as that.”

While the reason for Tuesday’s loss might still be up for debate, it’s clear to school officials they need to find other options for projects they had hoped to finance through the sinking fund. That included adding new energy-efficient boilers, upgrading heating and heat control systems, installing new hallway lockers at the middle and high school, doing concrete and parking lot repairs and creating Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant access points to the middle school and board entrances.

“I saw several other districts pass bonds or sinking funds, which means Yoopers support their school districts,” Heigl said. “District decisions have impacts and that will surface at the ballot. It’s the board’s job to take a hard look at ‘why.’

“The board must regroup and look for solutions to the problems — without that additional funding,” he added. “The facility needs improvements and we have to find a way.”

The board will have its monthly meeting Wednesday. Steigerwald said he’s unsure of what the next step would be.

“I do not know,” Steigerwald said. “One of the items we have planned to use recent federal dollars for was the maintenance of all of our programs.

“We have a lot of options for kids relative to the size of our district. We will have to balance programming and building needs. Some things that should be improved or replaced will not happen,” the superintendent said.