You May Be a Winner!
Posted by BKisida | Arkansas, Education, Fayetteville, AR, Politics | September 11, 2009
The Fayetteville School District announced today that..well, it’s not exactly clear. A cryptic post on the District’s blog says the following:
The Fayetteville School District learned today that the Arkansas Department of Education plans to release $113,443,000 in stimulus credits on September 21. Applying the rules of the program and understanding that a limited number of school districts applied for credits by the 2009 deadline, the new Fayetteville High School project could receive approximately $54 million of these credits for use in financing the project.
This will significantly lower the district’s interest rate on the bonds and reduce the date the bonds will be paid off by perhaps as much as six years.
The Stimulus credits could equal an interest savings of approximately $63,000,000, depending upon market conditions at the time the bonds are being offered. According to Dr. Lisa Morstad, chief financial officer of the district, “Due to the Stimulus Act, this is a very unique opportunity in which the district will be able to finance the new high school under extremely favorable terms. We are uniquely positioned in 2009 to take advantage of these credits, since the 2010 credits cycle will likely have many more participants, making the allocations much smaller. We’re grateful to Dennis Hunt and the staff at Stephens, Inc., for informing us of this opportunity and helping us through the process.”
Use of the credits for the new high school is contingent on the passage of the proposed millage increase on September 15.
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It’s not exactly clear what this means for the district, and they should work to clarify the meaning of the announcement as soon as possible.
1) First of all, uhh, what does it mean to receive a “stimulus credit”? In layman’s terms, how does the credit work? Does the state subsidize the interest on the bond?
2) What do they mean by “could”? Do they mean the district could be awarded the stimulus credit? Or do they mean the district will receive the credit and it could total $54 million?
3) How is it that the credits are contingent on the passage of the millage?
4) How do the credits translate into savings for the community? Will the credit simply increase the total amount the district has to spend, or will the effect be a net reduction in the amount citizens are being asked to fork over on Tuesday?
Hopefully the district will soon be offering a clearer explanation.
Isn’t clear communication one of those 21st century skills they plan to teach?
It’s deja vu all over again…
From the Northwest Arkansas Times – May 4, 2005
A brand new wrinkle: Root Elementary could get new gym from anonymous donor if millage increase passes Tuesday
Alan Wilbourn, director of school/community relations, and Principal Faye Jones both confirmed an anonymous donor has offered to give the Root Parent Teacher Organization a $150,000 donation toward the construction of a new gym if the millage passes.
Guess what, the millage failed and Root School got their new gym anyway.
[...] Yesterday the Fayetteville school district announced on their blog that they could be in line to receive $54 million in stimulus credits (read Qualified School Construction Bonds) to help finance the building of a new high school. Is this program to issue federally subsidized bonds new? No, the district has known about the program since at least June. In fact, they have publicly listed the program as a reason to vote for the millage for quite some time. So what is breaking about this news? It must be that the district got some sort of insider information regarding the proportion of these bonds they would receive this year. It is unclear from the post how certain the allocation is or if it is even certain we will receive anything at all. I hope the district provides the voters with a little more info before Tuesday’s election. [...]