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Greetings!
The following report is from the Thursday, November 17, 2011, Special Meeting of the Orleans Parish School Board.
***This email is created by Ken Ducote and Rose Drill-Peterson on behalf of the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools and is not an official correspondence from the Orleans Parish School Board*** |
Action Item
Took action as indicated
Taxable Refunding of OPSB's 1995 General Obligation Bonds - Approved Resolution 32-11
- Refinances and restructures some outstanding prior bonds
- Issuance amount $9,225,000
- Present value debt service savings will result
- Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB)
- Resolution 32-11 frees up cash flow for OPSB to take advantage of QSCB program with no increase in taxes
- QSCB program authorized by the federal government through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009
- QSCB provides federal tax credits for bond holders in lieu of interest in order to significantly reduce OPSB's cost of borrowing for construction projects, so they are essentially "interest-free" for OPSB
- OPSB is eligible for issuing $79 million in QSCB to use for the School Facilities Master Plan; accordingly, OPSB will issue that amount of bonds in December 2011
- A QSCB-funded project must be the construction, rehabilitation, or repair of a public school facility, or for the acquisition of land upon which such a facility is to be constructed
- Projects funded must be those most ready to be implemented so that economic impact will be realized soon
Executive Session Discussed litigation
OPSB v. Lexington Insurance Company, et al - Settlement recommendation discussed
Reconvene in Public Session Took action as indicated
OPSB v. Lexington Insurance Company, et al - Approved settlement among OPSB, RSD, and BESE for the agencies to end adversarial relationship in the litigation and to work together
- Resolution on how much insurance companies will pay is still needed
- $50 million previously deposited by insurance carriers with court will be used for "bricks and mortar" projects as follows:
- Approximately $24 million to be split equally between OPSB and RSD for projects
- Balance to be spent on the joint Master Plan
- Remaining unresolved claims total around $150 million
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