Prairie Crossing school gets $9.4 million government loan

A new, government-backed loan could save Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake about $175,000 a year in interests costs, officials said Friday.

The $9.4 million loan refinances existing construction debt that arose in 2002 after land was purchased and classrooms and a gymnasium were built, Prairie Crossing Director Myron Dagley said.

The school, which bears the name of the conservation-minded community in which it is located, opened in 1999. The first classes were held in a historic schoolhouse.

The original construction loan was set to expire this past June, but the bank extended the loan period until Sept. 30.

The new loan, approved by the Illinois Finance Authority and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, gives the school an additional 30 years to repay the debt.

And because the loan comes with a lower interest rate, the school will save money each year.

Dagley praised state Sen. Michael Bond, a Democrat from Grayslake, for ushering the plan through Springfield over the past year.

"(He was) an instrumental advocate on our behalf," Dagley said.

Bond called the loan good fiscal policy.

"With money tight in school districts across the state, it's important every dollar is well spent," he said in a news release. "By issuing these bonds on behalf of Prairie Crossing, we will be freeing up resources that can be better spent in the classroom."

Prairie Crossing serves kindergartners through eighth-graders who live in Fremont School District 79 and Woodland School District 50.

The school, which has 359 students, dallied with potential financial problems last fall, but this loan is apparently not connected to that.

Officials feared the school would end the 2007-08 term with a budget deficit, but a fundraising effort and cash management kept the facility in the black, Dagley said.

He doesn't foresee any financial problems this year.