Crystal Lake Dist. 47 to complete building work

Squeezed like most school districts by the precarious state of Illinois education funding, Crystal Lake Elementary District 47 is using a federal stimulus program to finance maintenance projects at district schools.

The district, which includes nine elementary schools, three middle schools, an early childhood center and about 9,000 students, issued $15 million in Build America Bonds this week, according to district officials.

The federal government will rebate 35 percent of the interest on the bonds, resulting in a favorable interest rate of 3.1 percent, Chief Financial Officer Susan Harkin said.

The bonds will be repaid over 15 years at an annual cost of about $1,235,000, Harkin said. Instead of stashing a portion of its tax haul into its cash reserves, the district will use that portion to make its annual bond payment.

As a result, Harkin does not expect the tax rate to go up to repay the bonds.

"This will have no impact on the tax rate," Harkin said. "We just are going to earmark some current funding to get these projects done."

District officials expect to complete $6 million to $7 million of projects this summer and finish the rest of the work next summer. The majority of the work, Harkin said, will be new roofing on several buildings, along with window replacement and other exterior fixes.

"They are not improvements. The work being done is for general maintenance," Superintendent Donn Mendoza said. "We needed the work done probably yesterday."

The District 47 school board approved $2.4 million in budget reductions earlier this year, including leaving 15 teacher vacancies unfilled and slashing the supplies and staff training budgets by 10 percent.

The district will use cash reserves to cover the rest of its anticipated deficit next year. The board will begin meeting this summer with an eye toward balancing the 2011-12 budget - without tapping cash reserves.