In an editorial written by and published March 25, 2018 by The Post, we called on voters in Warren County to support the then proposed $83 million school bond issue.

In the editorial, we called the vote “A watershed moment in Vicksburg’s future,” and the community had the “opportunity to decide the direction we want to follow for education and economic development.”

Wednesday, on an open lot at the intersection of Mission 66 and Rosa A. Temple Drive, that future and opportunity took another step forward as the community and officials with the Vicksburg Warren School District came together to break ground on the new Academy of Innovation facility.

Those who have designed and are set to build the $16.4 million building claim it will be a model for school construction, not only in Mississippi, and not just the South, but the country.

They also said the new facility will be a premier learning facility, setting the standard for the future of education.

We hope and expect they’re right.

For more than 50 years leading up to last March’s bond vote, the schools and other facilities that are part of the Vicksburg Warren School District were in many ways ignored. They were antiquated for today’s students and technology and were a challenge for educators to overcome.

“In order for our children to compete in the future for jobs and for our community to attract economic development and grow, our educational facilities must be compatible with current and future technology,” we wrote just days ahead of the ultimately successful vote. “This $83 million school bond initiative will bring our schools into the 21st century.”

The call to support the bond initiative was heard, and voters thankfully responded, overwhelmingly supporting the massive investment in our children and our community’s future.

Since that issue passed, we have not only seen the groundbreaking for AOI, but also massive expansions and upgrades at Warren Central High School and Vicksburg High School that are well underway. The upgrades at the system’s athletic facilities have been started, with the renovated football stadiums either completed — in the case of Warren Central — or nearly completed at Vicksburg High.

And that’s not all. Final decisions for work at our other facilities and schools are close to leaving the drawing board and it will not be long before our children, along with the staff and educators who lead them each day, are blessed with the types of facilities they so deserve.

Under the leadership and direction of our current school administration, we have seen improvements in the quality of education offered in Warren County.

It’s nice to see the facilities starting to match the quality of education our children are being provided.