Oakland County voters narrowly rejected a six-year, 1.5-mill regional school enhancement proposal on August 4. The measure would have raised roughly $781 per pupil and distributed the proceeds through Oakland Schools to local districts. The defeat leaves districts with the same underlying pressure for operating resources but without the proposed countywide funding source. The next policy choice is whether districts should rely more heavily on existing budgets and individual local measures, pursue a smaller or more targeted regional proposal, or press for changes in Michigan's statewide school-funding formula. A close no vote should count as a no. It should also push schools to ask whether the problem was the amount, the structure, or the case they made.