Voters in the De Soto school district rejected a $51 million school bond referendum Tuesday that would have funded school expansions, an early-childhood education center, security enhancements and technology upgrades.

Preliminary results from the Johnson County Election Office show that 3,687 patrons voted yes and 4,162 patrons voted no for Proposition 1. On Proposition 2, which called for $19.5 million for new theaters and artificial turf at the district high schools, 2,720 patrons voted yes while 5,109 voted no. Ballots were mailed to 17,489 registered voters and voter response was about 45 percent. Official results from the bond election will be released Monday.

Superintendent Sharon Zoellner said the failure of the bond referendum, which addressed immediate needs at Starside Elementary School and Mill Valley High School, means the De Soto school board will address the issue at its next meeting.

“The board of education is going to need to determine a plan for gathering input from the patrons to see how they want to continue forward,” she said.

Board President Janine Gracy said she was extremely disappointed that the bond issue failed.

“Now work begins on how we are going to manage the growth,” she said. “I really think there needs to be a committee formed and we will call it the growth management committee.”