Whenever it is deemed necessary (1) to erect a schoolhouse or school building or an addition or additions and improvements to any existing schoolhouse or (2) to purchase equipment for such schoolhouse or school buildings, in any school district in this state the school board may and, upon petition of not less than one-fourth of the legal voters of the school district, shall submit to the people of the school district at the next general election or special election a proposition to vote a special annual tax for that purpose of not to exceed seventeen and five-tenths cents on each one hundred dollars upon the taxable value of all the taxable property in such district for a term of not to exceed ten years. Such special tax may be voted at any annual or special meeting of the district by fifty-five percent of the legal voters attending such meeting.