The Oxford School District in northern Mississippi will ask voters to approve a $30 million general obligation bond issue in a referendum Oct. 26.
The bonds are expected to have final maturities between 15 and 20 years. They will be secured by a 6.8-millage rate that will be charged on every $1,000 of assessed property value.
The district’s financial adviser is Government Consultants Inc. and bond counsel is Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada PLLC.
Bond proceeds will be used to build a new high school and upgrade other facilities for the growing student body, said Oxford superintendent Kim Stasny.
“Our student population has grown 12.5% over the past 10 years and is holding steady at a 1.5% growth rate yearly,” she said. “Actually, all campuses are reaching capacity with three exceeding.”
Stasny hopes the poor economy will not deter voters from passing the referendum because the new school facilities are badly needed.
“If we don’t move forward to get something built within the next three years, I fear we will have to resort to modular classrooms,” she said. “We have an excellent bond rating and believe we will be able to get better rates if we proceed now.”
Standard & Poor’s assigns a AA-minus to the district’s GOs and state-aid capital improvement bonds.
The district last year sold $2.3 million of state-aid capital improvement refunding bonds secured by funds allocated to the district by the state. Those bonds priced to yield 1.75% in 2011, 2.65% in 2014, and 3.3% in 2018.
The Oxford School District is in Lafayette County and it has three elementary schools, one middle school, a high school, two centers for special-needs children, and shares a vocational school. Enrollment in 2009 was 3,141 students.
The district had $13.4 million of outstanding GO debt and $8 million of other long-term debt as of May 2009.
The city of Oxford, the Lafayette County seat, is located 165 miles northeast of Jackson. It also is the home of the University of Mississippi.
