This article describes a campaign for the passage of a 1989 bond referendum for the construction of two elementary schools in rural Lunenburg County, Virginia. The article, written from the perspective of a neophyte school superintendent, offers a demographic description of the county, describes various voter groups, and provides a chronology of events surrounding eventual passage of the referendum. Groups perceived as supporting the referendum included the black community, the middle class, parents, and the local school board. Groups originally assumed to oppose the bond issue included large landowners, who would be shouldering a disproportionate share of the tax increase, and retirees originally from other more urban areas who may have lacked allegiance to the local schools or the county itself. A school board-directed campaign of speeches, letters, and community-based organizing was used to support the bond issue referendum, which passed in every precinct. The paper concludes with recommendations for similar campaigns that emphasize the importance of grass-roots organizing, establishing the "moral high ground," focusing on the district's true needs, and starting the voter-education process early. (TES)