Ascension Awaits Bond Vote

The Ascension Parish-Wide School District would upgrade 20 schools with the proceeds from a $100 million bond issue going to voters on Oct. 17.

School superintendent Donald Songy said the district has built nine schools in the past nine years, but eight facilities are more than 50 years old. Some of the schools were built in the 1930s by the U.S. Works Progress Administration, Songy said at a public hearing last week.

The bonds would be supported by a four-year extension of an existing 15.08-mill property tax that has been extended four times since January 1993.

Approval of the proposed bonds would extend the tax though 2029.

The district’s GO bonds are rated AA-minus by Standard & Poor’s.

The parish-wide district, located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, is the fastest-growing school district in Louisiana.

Enrollment is approximately 18,000 students, which is an increase of 11% since 2003.

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Louisiana
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