Measure J has been defeated.

The Ripon Unified School District $32 million bond measure will fall shy of the 55 percent required votes for passage, collecting 52.59 percent or 5,163 ‘yes’ votes, according to the latest semi-final official election results from the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters office posted on Friday.

There are less than 6,000 ballots countywide left to be counted.

The count of ‘no’ votes was at 4,655 or 47.41 percent.

The bond measure required a 55 percent approval or higher to pass.

RUSD turned to the voters in hopes of funding for upgrades to the aging facilities, classrooms, and technology infrastructure, with some of the schools being built 60 to 85 years ago.

The local school district identified – in addition to modernizing and renovating of those facilities – replacing and / or expanding classrooms.

The project list also called for replacing portable building with that of permanent classrooms, upgrading technology infrastructure, and making safety and security improvements, to name a few.

RUSD currently has about 3,300 students attending Ripon High, Ripon Elementary, Ripona Elementary, Colony Oak Elementary, Park View Elementary, Weston Elementary, and Harvest High.

There’s also the development of more homes in projects such as the Hat Ranch Property, just north of town – located in Manteca but is within the RUSD attendance area – for the district to consider, in terms of future growth.