A vote to merge two northeast Iowa school districts failed by just over 70 votes. The Greene and Allison-Bristow school districts have been sharing a middle and high school program using the name “North Butler” since July of 2004. School leaders wanted to make the agreement permanent, claiming the new district, if merged before July of 2006 would get 600-thousand dollars in state incentives. But voters turned down the proposal on a split vote. The idea overwhelmingly passed in Greene, but failed by 73 votes in Allison-Bristow. A simple majority vote was needed in both districts for the measure to pass.
Iowa's Radio News Network
