Sound Off
Sound Off: Debt per student
According to the school district bond issue planning web site, the Lawrence school district had $55,555,000 bonds outstanding as of June 30, 2011. The new $92.5 million bond will not increase the tax levy, so how much will the total bond indebtedness be when the bond passes and what will that make the debt per student?
If the proposed $92.5 million bond issue passes, the total bonded debt of the Lawrence district after Sept. 1, 2013, when the district makes its next scheduled payment, would be approximately $146,065,000. The debt-per-student ratio would be approximately $12,384, based on official enrollment this year of 11,835.
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Comments
kansastm 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Such false logic underlies this question . . . The accurate way to think of the investment would be to divide the dollars invested by the total number of students who will use the facilities affected over the facilities' useful life. You cannot judge a long term investment by a single year's student data.
KRichards 2 months, 2 weeks ago
"You cannot judge a long term investment by a single year's student data."
Very true, but you miss the point. The debt ratio per student will remain approximately the same as it has been for the last 5-10 years. They are retiring old debt and replacing it with new debt, so the debt per student remains the same every year. It is not as though this is a large investment this year that then decreases over time, the debt level in Lawrence remains the same or goes higher every year.
LadyJ 2 months, 2 weeks ago
They probably should have given the voters three choices, this bond, a lower one, or no. With the rec center being forced on us, people may feel they have no choice but to vote no for the school bond. Still time to change that. In fact, didn't that happen once before? Voters said no so they resubmitted a lower bond and it passed. I could be remembering wrong.
jmacmurr 2 months, 2 weeks ago
I take it the $55,555,000 figure came from http://www.usd497.org/bondissueplanning/documents/PerStudentDebtComparison.pdf?
That does not square with what is in their audited financial reports http://emma.msrb.org/ER638505-ER494661-ER897502.pdf USD 497 FY 2012 Audited Financials Note 4 Page 9 General Obligations Bonds Balance 6/30/11 $73,475,000 6/30/12 $64,695,000
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