A $45 million school bond for the Eudora school district passed in referendum Tuesday by a measure of 874 to 722.

Superintendent Marty Kobza said that it was a victory for both students and teachers.

“It’s very exciting,” he said. “The opportunities that now lie ahead for the kids of Eudora are just incredible. We’re going to do some great things with technical school programs and get elementary students the facilities they need to help them overcome obstacles.

“And our teachers now can have the facilities to help them to their jobs well rather than hinder them.”

The bond will pay for a new elementary school, new classrooms and a bigger lunch area at Eudora Middle School, a new auditorium and classrooms for Eudora High School, and a new district stadium.

Enrollment in the Eudora school district has gone up 65 percent in the past 15 years, and Nottingham Elementary School, which houses kindergarten through second grade, is nearly 100 students over capacity. The construction of a new elementary school is the district’s first priority.

“There’s been some pre-planning, and we’ll put the final touches on things to get the projects ready to go out to bid in January and February,” Kobza said.

The new elementary school is scheduled to open in August 2009.

As district officials geared up for the election, Kobza said a key to success was getting the district’s message out to young families, many of whom have moved to Eudora this decade.

Unofficial results from the Douglas County Clerk’s Office indicate the district did that successfully.

Although Eudora’s four precincts split on the referendum, a large pro-bond majority in the new neighborhoods of eastern and southern Eudora helped carry the referendum with 54.76 percent of the vote.

The bond won nearly 71 percent of the vote in the precinct covering new subdivisions east of Church Street and north of Kansas Highway 10, with 266 yes votes to 110 no. The bond also was favored in the new neighborhoods south of K-10, 229-180.

A city charter ordinance, which will allow the mayor to appoint department heads to two-year terms with the City Council’s approval, also carried, 602 to 542.

Results are unofficial until a Douglas County Commission canvass of the results Friday.