DENVER -- Jefferson County Schools will leave positions unfilled, reduce new hires and fire staffers after voters rejected a tax and bond package worth more than $400 million.

Initiatives 3A and 3B were both rejected by slim margins of 3 percent on Tuesday.

By Wednesday morning, Superintendent Dr. Cindy Stevenson had already met with 300 principals, a meeting they'd planned ahead of time in anticipation of victory.

Instead, they talked about which programs, jobs and employees to eliminate.

"When you are a people intense organization those reductions will be people," Stevenson said. "That's teachers, counselors, librarians, um, special education staff. That's where we're going to have to look for cuts. And that's going to be difficult because that will result in increased class size, fewer choices for our kids, less teacher training."

Stevenson said the money from the ballot issues would've gone toward teachers, books and significant structural improvements.

With their defeat, partially completed improvements will remain unfinished.

"A large chunk was current technology for our kids. That will not happen," Stevenson said.

One of the critics all along isn't convinced.

"That's a scare tactic, of course. It may be true. Maybe that have to start living within a budget like the rest of us," said Jefferson County retiree Tom Graham.

Graham wrote a controversial, satirical opposition statement that voters received prior to the election.

Stevenson had gone to the media at the time to let voters know the district did not write the statement but was prohibited by law from removing it.

She acknowledged Wednesday it may've confused some voters.

"I think were' helping, actually. I think, if they're forced to live within a, some kind of a budget instead of just wild requests without any real detail on what they're going to do with it," Graham said.

Jeffco Schools will trim $7 million from next year's budget and $35 million over the next three years.

Stevenson hopes to notify staffers by March if they'll be fired before the 2009-2010 school year but hopes to find a way to preserve jobs through attrition, retirement and reducing the number of new hires

She mentioned music as one program on the table for possible cuts and said athletics likely will be spared.

But parents could be asked to pay higher participation fees.

In Cherry Creek, voters approved $18 million in additional property taxes and a $203 million bond issue.

"We're incredibly gratified that our community showed this kind of support for us. But we know that support comes with continued high expectations," said Tustin Amole, spokeswoman for the district.

They will add teachers and improve schools like Cottonwood Creek Elementary, built in the 1970s.

"So, many of these walls are temporary partitions. Many of these classrooms do not have doors. We'll be able to do all of that now," Amole said.

Cherry Creek has lost one bond and tax election since 1951, spanning some 26 elections.

Denver Schools Bond OK'd; Two Other Measures Fail

Denver voters approved a record bond issue to funnel $454 million to public schools, but similar bond proposals failed in Jefferson and Douglas counties.

Denver's Ballot Issue 3A targets maintenance and repair of schools and has a maximum repayment amount of $990 million. The previous record-setting bond issue for Denver Public Schools was $310.8 million in 2003.

Douglas County voters rejected a $395 million bond issue that would have financed elementary school construction and renovations of all school buildings. The Douglas County School District is the state's third largest.

Voters there also rejected Ballot Issue 3A, a $17 million proposal to finance literacy and language programs and maintain competitive salaries for teachers.

Jefferson County voters rejected a $350 million bond issue for schools in the R-1 district. The issue would have increased district taxes by $69 million a year, with a maximum repayment of $754 million.

Jefferson County voters also rejected Ballot Issue 3A, a $34 million annual property tax increase for the R-1 district for career and jobs skills programs, textbooks and fuel cost increases.