| Gilmer County voters overwhelmingly voted down a bond levy that would have closed four elementary schools to build two new schools, one in the eastern part of the county and another in the western part.
The vote was 819 for, 1,378 against. Fifty percent of a vote was needed for passage.
Glenville, Sand Fork, Normantown, and Troy elementary schools would have been closed and consolidated into two new schools, Gilmer West and Gilmer East.
The Gilmer County School Board would have needed to raise $11,915,000 to match the $8,771,940 provided by the School Building Authority.
The School Building Authority [SBA] money had already been approved if the bond passed.
The total amount of money needed to fund the project was $20,686,840.
That money would be raised through a tax rate increase that school officials say averages out to about $130 dollars a year.
The county currently has four elementary schools, that officials say are inadequate.
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