Free Republic

Poway Unified to Pay Nearly 10 Times What it Borrowed: Report District will begin financing the 40-year loan beginning in 2050 New school, new library, new technology – just a few examples of the renovations and repairs made to Poway Unified School District’s 24 aging schools starting in 2001 under Proposition U. To finish the job, Poway taxpayers passed Proposition C in 2008. Last year, as part of that bond, the district borrowed $105 million. It won’t begin paying it back until 20 years from now. With interest, that $105 million loan will end up costing taxpayers almost $1 billion...

Winning enough votes for multimillion-dollar school building programs used to be easy for school districts that followed a few simple rules: •Schedule the election on a day when there's nothing else on the ballot, ensuring low voter turnout; •Hit up school construction companies for campaign donations and spend the money on big newspaper ads and yard signs; •Use school buildings for polling locations and encourage teachers and parents to vote. It worked perfectly for the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District's $713 million bond election Dec. 11, in the middle of the holiday season. School construction companies and other Cy-Fair vendors gave...

<p>Any credit counselor will tell you that, if you have a debt problem, the first step is to stop digging the hole deeper. It's a lesson we hope voters apply to Proposition 55 in the March 2 election.</p> <p>Prop. 55 would float $12.3 billion in bonds to upgrade and build new classrooms for K-12 schools and community colleges, the California State University and the University of California. Of the total, $10 billion would go to K-12 schools, $2.3 billion to higher education.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO(AP) - Next month, California voters will face an unprecedented $23 billion worth of state and local school bond proposals, an explosion caused by the passage two years ago of an initiative that made it easier for communities to pass bond issues.</p>

<p>California will shatter a school-bonds record when multibillion-dollar sums will be sought from voters on Nov. 5 for construction and renovation.</p> <p>New highs are being set for the size of a statewide California school bond, $13 billion, and for the $10 billion total for bonds proposed by school and community college districts in the state.</p>

SACRAMENTO -- California's top officials are leading what critics call an unprecedented expansion and reshaping of the role bonds play in government finance, urging taxpayers to plunge tens of billions of dollars deeper in long-term debt for an array of needs. In one of two major new strategies that are alarming critics, state and local officials are urging voters to pass bonds in historic proportions for infrastructure work, tapping the state's remaining capacity for borrowing as the last easy source of cash. Three statewide bonds totaling more than $18.5 billion will be on the November ballot, along with numerous locally...