School Board hires partner on bond issue

JACKSONVILLE — The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board on Monday approved the issuance of $28,470,000 in bonds by the lowest of three bidders.

The trustees also voted 7-0 to give $750 bonuses to all contracted employees and approved plans for offering virtual academies to eligible elementary and secondary school students in the 2021-22 school year.

Superintendent Bryan Duffie proposed the employee bonus, saying the $539,000 cost was affordable.

“A lot of people have worked hard to get through this year of the pandemic,” Duffie said, adding that the money should be distributed between April 20 and April 30.

Robert W. Baird & Co. offered the lowest interest rate bid of 2.15% for the construction and refinancing bonds.

Almost $15.4 million raised by the bond issue will go toward completion of the new Jacksonville Middle and Jacksonville Elementary schools on Linda Lane. The remainder will be used to make payments on other construction debt.

The other bidders and their interest rate offers were Citigroup Global Markets Inc., 2.19%; and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, 2.27%.

In May 2019, Jacksonville voters approved a 13-year extension — to 2055 — of the district’s 22.4 debt-service mills as a way to finance school building construction in a system that is in the midst of building all new campuses to fulfill commitments in an ongoing federal school desegregation lawsuit.

The district’s overall property tax rate is 48.3 mills.

By continuing the 22.4-mill tax levy to 2055, district leaders anticipate generating sufficient revenue to make payments on a series of bonds issued to support the refinancing of the district’s debt, as well as $60 million to be paired with state aid for the capital construction program.

The tax levy extension does not increase a resident’s annual property tax payment but rather its duration.

The new middle school to open later this year will replace the school housed in the former North Pulaski High School building.

The new Jacksonville Elementary will replace the Pinewood and Dupree elementary schools. Replacements for Bayou Meto and Murrell Taylor elementaries are to follow.

In the past three years, the district has completed the new Bobby G. Lester Elementary and the new Jacksonville High School campus.