A total of $52.7 billion of Texas public school district general obligation bonds were covered by the Permanent School Fund bond guarantee program as of Aug. 31, 2011. Unused capacity totaled $18 billion.
The State Auditor’s Office said last week that the program extended triple-A coverage to 2,536 outstanding bond issues at the end of fiscal 2011.
Regulations established by the Texas Board of Education set a total coverage limit of $74.4 billion for the program, with a $3.7 billion reserve capacity.
Texas has $117.3 billion of bond capacity in the program under Internal Revenue Service regulations.
The Legislature passed a budget bill last year that extended the coverage to public charter schools, but state auditor John Keel said that will not be implemented until the state gets a clearance letter from the IRS.
