New Westside Elementary ‘ready to go’
-- Don Amend, Powell Tribune

Wyoming: March 9, 2010 -- Powell will see more school construction in the near future after the Wyoming Legislature authorized funding for construction of two new facilities. A new Westside Elementary facility was included in the state’s biennial budget in a late compromise as the Legislature concluded its budget session last week, joining an addition to Powell Middle School. The new budget provides $11,411,355 for construction of the new Westside facility and $3,848,281 for construction addition at Powell Middle School that will include a lunchroom and kitchen.

School board OKs up to $21.6M for Phase II of project
-- Laurel L. Scott, Standard-Times Go San Angelo

Texas: March 8, 2010 -- The San Angelo school board approved a guaranteed maximum price of $21.6 million for the second phase of the Central High School portion of the bond project, which will include construction of a new administration building, an agriculture shop and a building maintenance shop. Steve Van Hoozer, the San Angelo Independent School District’s director of bond planning and construction, presented the price from the contractor at risk, Lee Lewis Construction, at the Monday night school board meeting. The project was put out to bid in February.

Gooding School District bond in the hands of voters
-- Staff Writer, KMTV

Idaho: March 8, 2010 -- Gooding voters will head to the polls tomorrow to decide on a $5 Million bond. The money would come from the Idaho 2009 Qualified School Construction Bond; it is being backed by stimulus money. According to the school district, the bond would be an essentially no interest or low interest loan. The main reason for the money is needed facility upgrades and repairs; they range from the heating system, piping to carpeting. Plus the school district says it grew almost 5 percent this year. Polling places are at the high school, middle school and the Number Two Shoshone Fire Station North of Gooding.

Grassley Decrying Bond Subsidies
-- Peter Schroeder, Bond Buyer

National: March 8, 2010 -- Sen. Charles Grassley is opposing the expanded bond provisions included in the jobs bill the House passed Thursday, arguing that the higher subsidy rates in the legislation will just boost profits for Wall Street underwriters. The House’s version of the jobs bill would allow issuers of four types of tax-credit bonds — qualified school construction bonds, qualified zone academy bonds, new clean renewable energy bonds, and qualified energy conservation bonds — to opt to receive direct-payment subsidies as opposed to receiving that subsidy in the form of tax credits provided to investors. Under the measure, issuers of the bonds would receive direct payments that are roughly equal to the credit rate currently on the bonds — 100% of interest costs for QSCBs and QZABs, and 70% for new CREBs and QECBs. Although the bill the Senate passed last month also extend Build America Bond-style subsidies to those programs, it offered significantly lower subsidy rates. Under that version, large issuers would receive a subsidy rate of 45% of interest costs and small issuers would receive a 65% rate. The bill defined small issuers as those that sell less than $30 million of bonds in the calendar year. However, several muni market groups have spoken out against the Senate bill and in favor of the higher rates the House is pushing. Under the Senate plan, the groups argued, no issuers would be willing to go the direct-subsidy route if it meant receiving half of the subsidy that could be obtained with tax credits. “The RBDA is encouraged by House passage of [the jobs bill] and its provisions to allow the conversion of tax-credit bonds to BABs,” said Mike Nicholas, chief executive officer of the Regional Bond Dealers Association. “We think this is a positive first step in expanding the vibrant market for tax-exempt securities.” And Ken Bentsen Jr., executive vice president of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, told lawmakers in a letter that the House provisions enable “state and local school districts and governments ... to achieve the no-cost or low-cost financing that Congress originally intended, similar to the highly successful Build America Bonds (“BABs”) program.”

$2b later, Kansas City, Mo., may close half its schools
-- Heather Hollingsworth , boston.com

Missouri: March 8, 2010 -- Kansas City was viewed as a national example of bold thinking when it tried to integrate its schools by making them better than the suburban districts where many children were moving. The result was one school with an Olympic-size swimming pool and another with recording studios. Now it’s on the brink of bankruptcy and considering another bold move: closing nearly half its schools to stay afloat. Officials say the cuts are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case. Buffeted for years by declining enrollment, political squabbling, and a revolving door of leadership, the district’s fortunes are so bleak that Superintendent John Covington has said diplomas given to many graduates “aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.’’ Kansas City is among the most striking examples of the challenges of saving urban school districts. The city spent freely to improve facilities, but boosting lagging test scores and stemming the exodus of students were more elusive. The latest possible solution for Kansas City is the plan Covington submitted to the school board last week that called for closing 29 out of 61 schools to eliminate a projected $50 million budget shortfall. Covington also has said he wants to cut about 700 of the district’s 3,000 jobs, including 285 teachers. The school board vote is Wednesday. The proposal has stunned the community. “It’s crazy,’’ said Donnell Fletcher, the father of two girls, ages 4 and 12. “I just hope that with all the changes that they are planning on making, that the kids are the ones who are the most important and that hopefully they will get the resources and the education they need to be successful.’’ When Fletcher, 33, was a teenager, he transferred from a private school in the city to attend a showpiece of the desegregation plan, a high school with a high-profile fencing program. He, like many, wonders where the money has gone. This year alone officials expect to overspend the $316 million budget by $15 million and if nothing changes, the district will be in the red by 2011. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Kansas City appeared headed for a recovery when a federal judge in 1985 declared the district was unconstitutionally segregated. To boost test scores, integrate the schools, and repair decrepit classrooms, the state was ordered to spend about $2 billion to address the problems.