Expected to approve a bond question Monday to put before voters in September, the De Soto school board instead approved two.

The board approved a $51 million bond issue proposal designed to meet the growing district’s needs for the next three to five years.

In the same referendum, voters will decide on a second

$19.5 million bond, which would build new 1,000-seat auditoriums at De Soto and Mill Valley high schools and place artificial turf on the athletic fields at both schools.

The smaller bond issue could only be approved if the larger first question passed.

De Soto Superintendent Sharon Zoellner said Johnson County election officials indicated a referendum could be scheduled for Sept. 18.

The two bond questions, which will be made formal at a special meeting May 14, were approved after discussion involving the seven current board members and three new members elected last month. The first question passed on a 6-1 vote, with board member Randy Johnson voting no.

Johnson, who formed a group to oppose a $105.7 million bond issue rejected by district voters in November, said he thought the district’s immediate needs could be addressed with contingency dollars left from the district’s current bond issue and money in its capital outlay fund.

He and board member-elect Bill Fletcher continued to call for more planning to assure the district’s long-term needs were met.