Lebanon -- A proposed $24.9 million bond issue to build a new middle school fell 39 votes short of the 60 percent needed for approval yesterday.

The tally was 1,546-1,095.

School Board Chairwoman Laura Dykstra said she was “extremely disheartened.”

The proposal to build a new middle school for grades 5-8 was the district's third attempt to get voter approval to replace the aging Lebanon Junior High School.

A defeat of the building proposal leaves unresolved questions about what to with the junior high.

“The most glaring issue is that the needs have not changed,” Dykstra said.

Last summer, state education officials threatened to deny approval for the junior high to open last fall. The aging building was cited for several safety code violations and for failing to measure up to state standards for classroom size and space for special education programs, among other issues.

The state agreed to grant approval to the junior high for the 2008-09 school year, but only if the district would improve the building's sprinkler system. In November, the state fire marshal declared that the upgrades to the sprinkler system solved the building's most serious safety problems. Lebanon’s fire chief concurred with the state fire marshal’s assessment.

The state Board of Education has declined to comment until June on the junior high's status for 2009-10. Dykstra said that in light of yesterday's vote, that was not acceptable.

“We need to know sooner than later where they stand,” she said.

If the junior high isn't allowed to open next fall, displacing seventh- and eighth-graders, then all bets are off regarding the School Board's plan to consolidate elementary schools, Superintendent Mike Harris has said. Grades would be reshuffled around the district's elementary schools, and all five buildings would have to stay open in order to accommodate them.

The consolidation plan now in the works would shut down School Street School and Sacred Heart Public School, and split grades K-4 between Mount Lebanon School and Hanover Street School, with children from two sides of the city going to whichever K-4 school is closer. Seminary Hill School would accommodate grades 5-6.

Although the middle school bond issue didn't muster the 60 percent required by state law to pass, there was strong support for it.

“I came mostly to vote for the middle school project,” said Leslie Walker of West Lebanon, who voted at Mount Lebanon School last evening. “That's kind of my sole purpose here today.”

Opponents of the middle school project argued that Lebanon taxpayers shouldn't be asked to pay more taxes in a time of economic crisis. “I know people can't afford any more taxes,” said Margaret Gow of Lebanon. She and her husband, Tony, said they voted against the bond issue.

Last March, a proposal to build a new junior high for the seventh and eighth grades on the site of the existing junior high on Bank Street site failed to attract the needed 60 percent support.

Afterward, the School Board developed a plan to build a middle school for grades 6-8. In a special ballot vote held last October, voters were asked to approve a bond issue for that building proposal, as well as a separate proposal to buy a parcel of land on Route 4, on which the middle school would be built.

As happened yesterday, the vote on the bond issue fell about 2 percent short of the 60 percent needed to pass. But voters at that time approved spending $1.2 million to buy the land, which needed only a simple majority to gain approval. In November, the School Board purchased the Route 4 property for just over $1 million.

After the defeat of the building proposal in October, the School Board decided to try again to gain voter approval for a middle school. After much debate over the relative merits of different grade configurations, the board decided to propose a building that would include grades 5-8.

“We have had a wonderful majority three times in 12 months, and that is not good enough according to the New Hampshire regulations,” Dykstra said.

“The junior high still needs to be replaced, and we'll press on,” said School Board member Andy White.

Martin Downs can be reached at mdowns@vnews.com or (603) 727-3210.