Charleston County voters on Nov. 3 agreed to keep paying an extra penny on the dollar for school construction for six more years.

The referendum to extend the Charleston County School District’s 1-cent education capital improvements sales tax passed 115,325 to 54,182, or 68% to 32%, according to unofficial results from the South Carolina Election Commission. That was the widest margin of the three countywide sales tax questions on the ballot.

The vote does not raise the tax rate. It continues the existing tax from 2029 through 2034, according to the district. The current program expires in 2028, The Post and Courier reported. Voters first approved the tax in 2010 and renewed it in 2014 and 2020, the newspaper reported.

The extension is expected to raise about $1.25 billion, The Post and Courier reported in July. About $735 million is set for new construction, $350 million for maintenance, $91 million for information technology and $15 million for security.

The costliest projects include a $116 million elementary school in West Ashley’s Long Savannah development, an $83.5 million building for Midland Park Primary School and a $73 million building for the Mary Ford Early Learning and Family Center, both in North Charleston, the newspaper reported. The district’s list also includes replacement buildings for schools including Meeting Street School at Brentwood and Orange Grove Charter Middle School, a career technology wing at Burke High School and universal pre-K classrooms at three schools.

The tax applies to retail purchases but not to groceries or personal hygiene products, The Post and Courier reported. The district has said visitors pay a large share.

“It’s big because we bring in money from the outside and 60% of the funds for this program are from tourists,” Jeff Borowy, the district’s chief operating officer, told WCIV-TV in July.

The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce’s board unanimously backed the extension and agreed to lead the campaign for it, the chamber said in April. It said it would coordinate that effort with the campaign to extend the county’s half-cent transportation sales tax, which voters also approved.

The results remain unofficial until they are certified.