Franklin Regional school board members will move ahead with a series of 2017 bonds to finance the construction of a new school next door to Sloan Elementary, which will be renovated.
The district's financial advisor has proposed issuing $9.9 million in bonds this year, next year and in 2020, with a much larger $23.65 million bond in 2019, when the bulk of construction work and spending would be taking place.
School board officials approved a bond resolution at their Oct. 16 meeting.
The project, slated to cost just under $54 million, would put the district at about 45 percent of its maximum debt limit, which finance director Jon Perry said is around $120 million.
Construction crews will renovate Sloan and convert it to a school serving kindergarten through second grade. The new building will house students in grades 3 through 5.
School board officials estimate construction will begin in the summer of 2018 and finish during the 2020-'21 school year.
