It’s now official: The Oxford School District will build a new elementary school and finish up the high school.

Voters easily passed the bond $38 million bond referendum and we aren’t surprised. Oxford has a perfect record of voting to add more tax to build what’s needed for education.

It’s the second time in less than a decade that Oxford schools have voted on and passed a bond issue, which isn’t desirable but it is also unavoidable. Our city is growing and that growth has pushed our schools to build.

Now in the upper tier of the state in terms of school system size, the new high school built with a 2012 bond issue was needed just like this new elementary school is needed.

We simply cannot have the excellence in education that our community demands without enough space for students to learn.

That’s why Oxford School District voters passed this referendum with ease, with more than 83 percent saying yes.

And, the good news is that this one should hold us for a while. Once the new elementary school is built Oxford will have addressed needs on both ends of its education spectrum, while providing more room in the middle with its old high school building.