DALLAS - The Ascension Parish-Wide School District in Louisiana will use the proceeds from Tuesday's competitive sale of $40 million of 20-year, unlimited-tax general obligation bonds to build new schools needed because of migration from nearby communities, spiked by an influx of evacuees displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The parish-wide district, located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, is the fastest-growing school district in the state.
The district gained thousands of new students in the short term, and hundreds of others on a more permanent basis, after Hurricane Katrina hit the state in late August 2005. However, the population surge pre-dated the natural disaster, according to Kathy Hebert, director of business services for the district.
"It isn't just the hurricane relocations that caused the overcrowding," she said. "We've been growing for years. We're a bedroom community for East Baton Rouge Parish, and a lot of people are moving from Baton Rouge and other places into Ascension. We like to think a lot of that growth is due to our good school system."
The district's GO bonds are rated A-plus by Standard & Poor's, the only agency with an unenhanced rating on the debt. The bonds will be supported through the district's 15.08 mill tax rate for debt service.
Bond counsel is Foley & JudellLLP. Fiscal Services Inc. is the district's financial adviser.
The Ascension school district currently has $63.7 million in outstanding GO debt. Next week's sale is the third and final tranche from a $70 million authorization overwhelmingly approved by voters in October 2005. The district sold $15 million tranches in April 2006 and April 2007.
Enrollment is approximately 18,000 students in 22 schools, which is an increase of 11% since 2003. Enrollment posted a sharp spike in fall 2005, as the state's population displacement after Katrina moved 2,300 new students into the district.
About 500 of those students remain as permanent residents, Hebert said "It was a challenging time," Hebert said of the post-hurricane school year. "We already had lots of students in temporary classrooms before Katrina, and afterward it was even more crowded. For a while we actually operated a primary school at an old Catholic school that the diocese was using for night religious classes."
The turmoil lasted for several months, Hebert said, as displaced residents returned to their homes, moved in with relatives, or sought permanent housing in Ascension Parish.
"We had students coming in to and out of the schools for a long time," she said.
The district has received construction bids on four of the new five schools being financed with the $70 million bond authorization, and is seeking a site for the final one. A sixth school, financed from the district's general fund, is also in the planning stages.
"Unfortunately, we still will have students in more than 100 temporary buildings when these schools are completed," she said. "We may go to the voters early next year for a bond authorization bigger than this one."
The district's bond program also includes upgraded technology across the district, and renovations to two of its four high schools.
The parish school board was encouraged by the overwhelming support for the 2005 bond package, Herbert said, which went to voters just a few weeks after Katrina hit southern Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005. The vote was 8,552 in favor and 2,511 opposed.
Voters in 2005 also approved a 10-year, 8-mill tax for operational needs and scheduled technology upgrades. q
