Tahoma School District’s $195 million construction bond measure received overwhelming approval in early returns Tuesday night with a 68 percent yes vote.

With 8,230 ballots counted, 5,515 approved the bond.

A construction bond requires a super majority of 60 percent to pass.

“I never would have imagined 68 percent on the first returns,” said district spokesman Kevin Patterson Wednesday morning. “I think the community made the decision that it wants to move forward in a big way and it’s a very positive thing for not just the school district but our entire community to continue evolving as one of the best places in America for families.”

The $195 million in construction bonds includes money for a new comprehensive Tahoma High School to house the district’s students in grades 9 through 12 which would be located on 35 acres in the Donut Hole in Maple Valley, which the district is in the process of purchasing from King County. The bond also includes what are referred to as warm, safe, and dry projects as well as funding for work related to realigning the district’s existing schools for different grade levels.

Based on the projected 6 percent increase in property values in 2014 the projected increase in the tax rate for the district’s bonds is $1.47 per $1,000 assessed value over the 2013 tax rate. That pencils out to an increase of $36.75 per month for the owner of a $300,000 home or $441 per year.

The bond will be repaid over 20 years, being repaid in full in 2034. The district would have to pay interest on the bonds at a rate of about 4 percent, which would mean that over the 20 years the total cost of the $195 million bond would be $322 million.

Construction of the high school building is projected to cost about $144 million or about $250 per square foot. Those figures don’t include the costs for planning the site and permitting.

The plans for district realignment call for Glacier Park and Rock Creek to remain elementary schools. Lake Wilderness, which is currently the largest elementary school in the state, will also remain an elementary school but the older portion of the school will be torn down and the school will become about half its current size. Shadow Lake will also remain an elementary school but will only house half the elementary grades, with the other half housed at Cedar River as a companion school. Tahoma Middle School is slated to become an elementary school and Tahoma Junior High and the current Tahoma High School building will both be turned into middle schools.

The last time that a construction bond was passed in the district was in 1997 for $45 million, which paid for the remodeling of the current Tahoma High School among other projects, and is still being repaid.

Tahoma’s last bond measure in April 2011 garnered just under 53 percent of voter approval.

“This is a sense of relief for me as I go into retirement and there’s not a cloud over the system,” said Superintendent Mike Maryanksi Wednesday morning. “Also, the future of this community and this school system and the quality of the learning environments we can create for K-12 students is unbelievable.”