Groton — Town and school leaders said they were “burned” after believing they would receive state funding for more school construction only to later find out the project would receive no support.

Now, officials say, they have to figure out what to do next.

At a Town Council meeting on Tuesday, members of the Board of Education and the School Facilities Initiative Task Force — which spent three years devising a plan to upgrade Groton’s aging school facilities and correct a longtime problem of racial imbalance — talked about what happened with their failed attempt to seek state help.

“We were burned. That’s the way I look at it,” Town Councilor Harry Watson said.

Superintendent Michael Graner agreed. He said he met with staff from the State Department of Administrative Services in January and was encouraged to seek special legislation to get help with the proposed $195.6 million school construction project, he said.

Then Graner arrived last Tuesday in Hartford to lobby for the legislation and people kept asking where the bill was, he said.

Graner and State Rep. John Scott, R-Groton, thought there had been a glitch delivering the legislation, Graner said. They didn’t realize until a day later that the state department of administrative services had decided to pull it, he said.

“Here we were lobbying for 12 hours, essentially making fools of ourselves because there was no bill. There was no language. And the next day, when John (Scott) met with the commissioner, the commissioner admitted that she had withdrawn the bill. Having, unfortunately, forgotten to tell us,” Graner said.

Department of Administrative Services Commissioner Melody A. Currey said last week she could not support Groton’s request because the town did not follow the proper steps needed to submit the project.

Currey said Wednesday she did not promise anyone anything.

“I understand that they are upset and that they want to see this happen,” she said of Groton officials, “but they need to speak to their legislators that control that. I do not control that.”

Currey said the town presented its situation to her, and she told them the schools were in racial balance. She said she suggested that if the school buildings were in bad shape, the town should make a case based on age of the schools and improving the quality of education.

Town and school officials insisted Tuesday they knew exactly what they were doing, but their attempt failed, so they have to figure out what to do now, they said.

The consultant for the school project outlined an alternative proposal on Tuesday, which the facilities task force had supported earlier in its debate: Build one new middle school and renovate Groton’s two existing middle schools and convert them into elementary schools.

The updated plan would cost $184 million, of which Groton taxpayers would pay $84 million, said Mike Zuba, educational consultant with Milone & MacBroom. That translates into about $136 in additional taxes for every $100,000 of assessed property value.

Councilors did not decide Tuesday whether to send the proposal forward to referendum.

Councilor Karen Morton said the council promised voters that if the state help didn’t come through, the project was “dead on arrival.”

But Groton has no “do nothing” option because the schools need repair, Town Councilor Dean Antipas said. The least expensive option would still cost $50 million to $60 million and give the town nothing back but new roofs and furnaces, he said.

“Something is going to be spent,” he said.

Mayor Bruce Flax said he was angry. Groton redistricted students multiple times to meet the state’s requirement for racial balance, and now the town doesn’t qualify for the 80 percent state reimbursement because the schools are currently in balance.

“Screw it, I mean put everyone back in the school that’s closest to them,” Flax said. Then Groton would be out of balance and get 80 percent reimbursement for all its schools, he said.

Task force member Kevin Trejo urged the council to go forward with the $184 million proposal. One middle school rather than two makes sense with a smaller middle school population, and the plan puts an elementary school back in Groton City, Trejo said. The proposal also would save on administrative costs by closing three schools, Trejo said.

“It can be explained to the people, and I think it should go forward,” he said.

Councilor Joe de la Cruz agreed.

“Just because the State of Connecticut is absolutely running away from educating our kids, doesn’t mean we have to,” he said.

d.straszheim@theday.com