KATE YORK The Marietta Times Students in Mrs. Borich’s second-grade class at Phillips Elementary take part in a math lesson Friday afternoon. School officials are weighing their next move on school improvements following the defeat Tuesday of a bond issue that would have paid for new schools.

Schools in Marietta may soon have some small-scale improvements in security, technology and maintenance now that a bond issue that would have helped fund a $78 million construction and renovation project has failed. Fifty-eight percent of voters opposed the bond issue that would have funded new schools Tuesday, and now, as district leaders decide if they will place it on the ballot again, some improvements to the current facilities can no longer be put off. “Now we need to look at the PI (Permanent Improvement levy) money we’ve been holding onto in hopes of putting it toward new schools and see where it needs to go,” said board of education member Greg Gault. “The public entrusted us with this money for certain things like improving technology and security, and now that we know that new schools have been delayed, we need to go ahead and do what we can.” The five-year, 2.