The Tuesday night tax referendum for county schools failed for a second time in DeWitt County.

Wednesday, the leader of the Clinton School District, Curt Nettles says the voters spoke and that is the way it should work. He points out the vote margin was nearly identical to the last vote.

It was late last year the School Board approved the referendum for the March primary and Nettles feels everyone likely voted the same as two years ago. He felt the material and message was still fresh in the public's mind.

The sales tax referendum in other counties in Illinois has taken up to three tries by a school board before it has passed and Nettles says that is encouraging from his perspective but notes the school board has not discussed if they will pursue the tax again.

Nettles spoke with several community groups leading up to the election. He indicates while he did not receive a lot of negative feedback on the topic, there were those that did say they did not support it. He felt most everyone voted this time around as they did the last time, with evidence in the vote tallies.