LPS structuring new bond issue up to nearly $300 million

Lincoln Public Schools is looking to the future as a new decade nears. On Tuesday, an initial plan was presented of a potential bond issue between $250 million and $290 million.

What exactly is the district hoping to work on this time?

“The list that’s in front of us right now of projects for additional elementary schools, indoor air quality projects, high schools, infrastructure. Looking at all of those facility needs,” Liz Standish of Lincoln Public Schools said. “We have almost 8 million square feet of facilities. It is a big list and there will have to be priorities made.”

Those priorities include determining the most pressing needs. The initial proposal actually found projects upwards of $355 million, but the district is trying to stay under $300 million.

Officials say the 250 to 290 million dollar range would not raise the tax rate because a large chunk of two existing bond debt will be paid off. One of them was the bond approved in 2000 to build North Star and Lincoln Southwest High Schools.

A committee will spend the next few months identifying what the district needs now, and what can wait.

Where will this money come from?

“If we set that tax rate in the bond fund and call that the 16.1 cents that it currently is today. Based on that value growth, that’s where we would generate the $250 to $290 million range,” Standish said.

According to Standish, this is a similar model to the last two bond issues that were passed.

Recommendations for the finance structure of the bond, as well as what facilities exactly the money would be used for, will be shown to the superintendent in August.

Why a new bond issue now?

LPS has grown by around 4,000 students since the last bond issue in 2014. The proposal has leaned toward building one or two new high schools, but elementary and middle schools are also a concern.

“That voting type of activity was leaning towards two high schools, but the final recommendations are still very much in the works. We have significant capacity needs in two geographic locations of the city, both north and south,” Standish said. “Part of the high school conversation is how do you meet the needs in two areas of our community at the same time?”

If the proposal is approved, the public would likely vote on it early in 2020. Assuming the bond was $290 million, it would be the largest bond in LPS history, surprising the 2006 bond issue of $250 million. The 2014 bond issue was valued at $153 million. If passed, LPS hopes to finish the projects within five years.

They are still in the early stages of the proposal.