By LINDA KELLETT

For the Recorder

ST. JOHNSVILLE -- Voters in St. Johnsville and Oppenheim-Ephratah school districts Wednesday night brought to a grinding halt a sometimes-emotional, roughly two-year-long process to determine whether the neighboring districts should combine.

While St. Johnsville voters voted in favor of the merger of the two districts, voters in Oppenheim-Ephratah rejected the proposal.

Voter approval in both districts was needed in order for the consolidation to move ahead.

It's not a completely dead issue, however. O-E Superintendent Daniel Russom said the matter could come up for a second vote on Dec. 8, 2012 -- one year and a day from this week's failed vote -- if the respective school boards decide to go ahead with it. The districts would need to conduct a new round of public information sessions, but they would not have to complete another merger study as the current study is good for two years.

Final tallies for the election, of which HFM BOCES District Superintendent Patrick Michel had oversight, showed St. Johnsville residents approving the merger, 461 votes to 79. O-E residents voted against the merger, 458 to 400.

The failure of the measure could have had serious ramifications for the districts.

Russom said, "Under the present funding mechanism, if we stay single, we're going to have a very difficult time providing a sound basic education for our students. We have quite a large budget shortfall projected for next year and for the year after and the year after that."

That was echoed by St. Johnsville District Superintendent Ralph Acquaro, who said he was disappointed by the outcome of the vote.

A merger decision would have brought state incentive aid to the consolidated district. Without a merger, officials at both districts will have to find a way to maintain the present educational program with shrinking state resources.

"It's going to be difficult," Russom said. "I don't believe we can."

Acquaro noted that district officials in St. Johnsville will now have to "figure out how we're going to survive given the constraints on the resources and the increasing educational and accountability demands that we face."

Both said their respective districts have some reserves, but those could be depleted within the next few years. In order to reduce spending, officials at O-E this year cut some programs and eliminated some extracurricular activities.

Both superintendents said a decision to combine the districts was in the best interests of all parties concerned, and Acquaro said there was no question that both districts would have benefitted.

"It's clear cut," he said, noting the chief advantages were that educational programming and services currently in place could be preserved.

Had the merger been approved, the next step in the process would have been the election of a new board of education for the merged district. Petitions would have been available for interested candidates as early as the middle of this month.

The consolidation process started slightly more than two years ago with a three-way feasibility study between Fort Plain, St. Johnsville and Oppenheim-Ephratah school districts. Because there was no interest in a three-way merger, it was determined that St. Johnsville and Oppenheim-Ephratah offered the best match, said Russom. A merger grant was subsequently secured. Throughout the process, some sharing of services, faculty and athletic programs has taken place between the districts.

The results of the special election were certified by representatives of a canvass board, made up of residents from each district. The rules and procedures for the election fell under the purview of the Commissioner of the state Education Department.

Polls were open from noon until 8 p.m.