With District Growth Stopped, School Board Says No to Selling More Bonds

The board has decided against using any leftover funds from the 2006 referendum to finance capital improvement projects.

By law, the district has until Friday to sell any bonds from the March 2006 building referendum in which voters approved selling $252.1 million in bonds to build six new elementary schools, two middle schools, a high school, a transportation center and other capital improvement projects.

The district only sold funds for the buildings that were built, which included Freedom, Thomas Jefferson and Eichelberger elementary schools, John F. Kennedy Middle School and Plainfield East High School. The total for these projects cost about $162 million.

While the district had the authority to sell about $90 million in bonds for the four schools and the transportation center, the district did not need to since the explosive growth the district had been experiencing stopped during the economic downturn, district spokesman Tom Hernandez said.

Since about $89 million were earmarked for the remaining schools and transportation center, the district would have had the authority to sell about $800,000 in bonds for capital improvement projects, Hernandez said.

The board decided against using this money for capital improvement projects at a special board meeting Tuesday. No major repair projects had been slated, Hernandez said.

For future repairs, the district does have about $18 million in its capital fund, a savings that amounted since the five schools built since 2006 were constructed under budget, he said. The district is expected to use about $1.5 million a year for the next three years to make improvements to its schools, leaving a $13.5 million reserve for emergencies, he said.