Ascension School Board told of rankings climb

• By C.J. FUTCH
• Advocate River parishes bureau
• Published: Oct 21, 2009 - Page: 3B

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Ascension Parish School Superintendent Donald Songy officially informed the School Board on Tuesday night the district had climbed from 10th to fourth in statewide school rankings.

Ascension’s school performance scores rose 6.1 points to 105.9, with all but four schools improving individual scores, Songy said.

That report came days before parish voters approved a $100 million bond proposal to renovate and upgrade 20 of the system’s aging campuses.

Earlier Tuesday, the school district broke ground on the future Sorrento Primary School, the sixth new school in a recent building spurt, and a reaction to the parish’s steady population growth.

Sorrento Primary is expected to be completed in early 2011.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board took action on an offer of federal stimulus funds that will involve Sorrento Primary.

The school district is eligible to use $10 million from the stimulus package’s Qualified School Construction Bond program, said Betsy Landry, director of business services for the system.

The money is not a grant, but a loan offer that required partnership with a bank, in this case, Regions Bank, Landry said.

Regions made an offer to buy $10 million in bonds for new construction or upgrades, a requirement of the program, for which Regions will get a 6.01 percent federal tax credit.

Regions’ offer was to loan the funds for a total of 6.9 percent interest, leaving the system with 0.89 percent interest to pay back on the bonds.

The bond agreement is structured so only interest payments must be made annually.

Principal payments will be set aside in an interest-bearing fund, bond attorney Jerry Osborne said.

The interest earned there — Osborne estimates it at 3 percent — will be credited to the bonds, leaving a final payment of $9,218,693 when it matures.