Jim Watts

Trustees of St. Helena Parish School District voted last week to form a committee to find some way to finance replacement of the district’s aging buildings and raise teacher salaries.

DALLAS — Dallas County District Judge Craig Smith agreed Monday to a one-week delay in deciding whether the Dallas suburb of Irving can issue up to $200 million of revenue bonds for an entertainment center near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Trustees of the Socorro Independent School District have formed a facilities committee to review the condition of the district’s schools in anticipation of a bond election in 2011.

The presidents of Oklahoma’s two largest universities last week asked proponents of a constitutional amendment that would boost state aid to K-12 public education to stop using the schools’ logos in a television advertisement.

Candidates for Kansas treasurer agreed last week that the state must find a solution to the unfunded liabilities of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System but differed on how to deal with the situation.

Colorado Mountain College president Stan Jensen said last week that passage of Proposition 101 and Amendments 60 and 61 in November could cause a large increase in tuition and delay the school’s plans for a new four-year degree program.

The Arizona land endowment fund returned 11.53% on its $2.8 billion holdings in fiscal 2010, higher than some of the largest endowments and pensions funds in the country.

DALLAS — A lawsuit filed in Arkansas state court last week could remove from the November ballot a constitutional amendment to eliminate restrictions on the interest rate carried by tax-exempt bonds issued in the state.

DALLAS — Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry will serve as the honorary chairman of a group seeking to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would increase state funding of public education.

A report on how much debt can be supported by the proposed new state teaching hospital in New Orleans will be released by the first of October.

The expiration of the federal income-tax cuts put into place in 2001 and 2003 could reduce the amount Louisiana collects from its income tax by between $30 million and $120 million a year, beginning in fiscal 2012.

DALLAS — The chief financial officer of Dallas Area Rapid Transit said Monday that he is unconcerned by the effect of a downgrade by one of the major rating agencies on the upcoming sale of $825 million of revenue bonds supported by anemic sales tax income.

The system developed to fund public education in Texas needs a major overhaul, lawmakers said last week at a meeting of the state’s Select Committee on Public School Finance Weights, Allotments, and Adjustments.

Rep. Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, said Oklahoma could face a revenue shortfall of $565 million when the Legislature convenes in early 2011 to prepare the fiscal 2012 budget.

Oklahoma’s tax collections in August totaled $350.8 million, up $15.8 million from August 2009 but $1.5 million less than expected.

Kansas would replace its corporate income tax and lower the sales tax rate in favor of a tax on Girl Scout cookies and other currently exempted purchases under a plan outlined last week to the Joint Committee on Assessment and Taxation by a state senator.

Fayetteville School District No. 1 of Washington County hopes to complete the second phase of its new $113 million high school with bond proceeds if voters approve a 2.75-mill increase in the district’s property tax rate Monday.

DALLAS — The Louisiana State Bond Commission on Thursday approved $600 million of the state’s dwindling capacity of Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds for an iron and steel project in St. James Parish.

DALLAS — Dallas Area Rapid Transit will issue $825 million of bonds supported by sales tax and farebox revenue next week under a resolution adopted Tuesday by the DART finance committee.

The amount of debt that will be issued to build a new state hospital in New Orleans could be pared by $55 million to $100 million of expected additional federal reimbursements for hurricane damage to shuttered Charity Hospital.