MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana school district is facing difficult financial choices after voters rejected its quest to raise $28 million last month.

School City of Mishawaka Superintendent Terry Barker says the district is considering cutting programs, closing schools or even merging with Penn-Harris-Madison or South Bend schools following the failed referendum.

But he tells WNDU a merger isn't likely because neither district views appears amenable to absorbing Mishawaka's 5,000 students.

A Penn-Harris-Madison spokeswoman tells the South Bend Tribune that officials in the 10,000-student district don't think a consolidation is in their students' best interests. South Bend school officials have been similarly cool to the idea.

Barker says school officials will calculate the cost savings for each idea and review the numbers with the school board in February.