For the third time in eight years, Colorado voters turned down additional state funding for education Tuesday as Amendment 73 was on its way to being defeated.

As of 8:10 p.m., the amendment had 56.7 percent against to 43.3 percent in favor; the amendment needed a 55 percent super-majority in favor to pass.

Amendment 73 would have generated $1.6 billion through an increased tax scale on the state’s flat tax (which is 4.63 percent) for those individuals and companies making between $150,000 and $500,000. That money would have been earmarked for pre-K through high school education in a new fund called the “Quality Public Education Fund.”

Opponents included a number of chambers of commerce and state associations for bankers, restaurants and Realtors. They contended the amendment language was too vague on how the money would be spent and would hurt businesses because of the tax increase.

The two most recent attempts to increase spending for Colorado schools were landslide losses: Amendment 66 failed in 2013 (64.5 percent to 35.5 percent) and Proposition 103 in 2011 failed (63.2 percent to 36.8 percent).