Ascension eyeing $100 million bond election

• By ELLYN COUVILLION
• Advocate River parishes bureau
• Published: Jun 22, 2009 - Page: 1B

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GONZALES — The Ascension Parish School Board on Tuesday will consider calling a special election this fall on a $100 million bond issue to fund renovating and replacing its aging school buildings.

The “whole focus” would be on taking care of aging facilities, said Superintendent Donald Songy.

The election would be held Oct. 17, if the resolution calling for the election is adopted Tuesday by the board and approved later by the state, said Johnnie Balfantz Jr., public information officer of the school system.

Details on which school buildings would be renovated or replaced will be discussed at Tuesday’s special meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. in the B.C. Alwes auditorium, 501 Lee Ave., in Donaldsonville, Balfantz said.

Songy said renovation plans right now include electrical upgrades to support technology.

In older school buildings, a classroom might have only one electrical outlet in the front of the room and one in the back, and that’s not sufficient to bring new technology to the classroom, he said.

In 2005, voters approved extending the life of a property tax for a $69 million primary-school bond issue funding the building of Pecan Grove Elementary and Prairieville Primary, both of which opened last August, Spanish Lake off Bluff Road, Central on La. 621, and Lakeside on La. 431, all scheduled to open in time for the Aug. 10 start of the 2009-10 school year; and Orange Grove Primary near Sorrento, still in the planning stages.

The parish school district recently received an improved bond rating by Standard & Poor’s Co., which will lower the interest rates the school system pays to bond holders.