School Bonds Clobbered

Only 31% of voters approved a $561 million bond proposal by the Lafayette Parish School Board on Oct. 22. The final tally was 29,557 to 13,264.

The plan included a 23-mill property tax increase to fund the 20-year bonds, and a separate 2-mill increase for maintenance expenses.

School board president Mark Allen Babineaux said the tax and bond measures would be back on the ballot at some point. “The necessity is there,” he said at a post-election news conference. “There’s no other way around it.”

The district’s master facility plan includes $1 billion of projects.

The school board has no outstanding GO bonds. Its $8 million of debt supported by sales tax revenue is rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.

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Louisiana
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