Mainers overwhelmingly showed their concern for the health and safety of the state’s students Tuesday, approving a $28.5 million bond issue that calls for installing sprinklers on public college campuses and contributing to a fund to help schools pay for asbestos removal and other renovations.

With 86 percent of the statewide precincts reporting, 57.7 percent of voters supported Question 1, while 42.3 percent turned it down.

Still, there were big regional differences. For example, the bond was winning handily in Penobscot County, where residents voted 12,435 to 10,233 in favor of the measure. Residents in southern Maine gave a thumbs up as well, with Cumberland County approving the bond 16,100 to 9,730, York County 8,072 to 5,599 and Androscoggin County 7,679 to 4,593.

But the vote was negative in some rural counties. In Washington County, the vote was 1,877 for and 1,940 against, and in Piscataquis County it was 1,215 for to 1,292 against. In Hancock County, the vote was 3,718 yes and 3,921 no.

Question 1 calls for $7 million to equip 43 dormitories on public campuses with sprinkler systems; $13 million to add capital to the School Revolving Renovation Fund; $8 million to repair a state office building at the Augusta Mental Health Institute; and $500,000

to convert a Portland building into a homeless youth center.

Rep. Robert Duplessie, D-Westbrook, who sponsored the sprinkler initiative, said he wasn’t surprised at the outcome. “Many people were shocked to find out that dormitories don’t have sprinklers,” he said.

Half the sprinkler funds would be spent at the University of Maine, where 15 out of 20 dormitories lack the safety devices. Only 17 of the 60 dormitories on public campuses have sprinkler systems.

Unlike smoke detectors, sprinklers aren’t required by the state’s fire code except in newer buildings, according to area firefighters who promoted the bond question last week.

In 98 percent of cases, a fire either is contained or extinguished by the time firefighters get to the scene if a building has sprinklers, they said.

Jean Gulliver, chair of the Maine State Board of Education said she wasn’t surprised at the outcome. The revolving renovation fund program had been “so effective in literally hundreds of Maine communities, that we anticipated the program would continue,” she said.

Through the revolving renovation fund, districts can receive between 30 percent and 70 percent of repair costs up to $1 million. A portion of the money doesn’t need to be paid back at all, while the rest can be paid back interest-free.

The state’s contribution is based on the amount the district receives through the state school funding formula. When the loans are repaid, the money goes back into the fund to help other schools.

Added to last year’s contribution which voters endorsed in November, this latest infusion of funds would bring the state up to the $100 million to which it is committed, Yellow Light Breen, a Department of Education spokesman said.

While the last bond was targeted toward health and safety repairs, this time schools will be able to put the money toward general renovations and structural problems as well as upgrading learning spaces such as science labs or libraries, Breen said.