This chapter of "Principles of School Business Management" provides a generic overview of the major tasks associated with financing a school district's large capital programs. The chapter opens with a brief historical review of the limited provisions made for capital outlay prior to the 1960s and of the trends in financing in recent decades. The…

Intended for local municipal officials and their advisors on public finance issues, this publication describes the legal environment surrounding bonds and examines some of the factors affecting the political feasibility of bond issues. Four categories of state controls of municipal bonds are discussed: limits on the amount of debt municipalities…

This book summarizes and analyzes empirical research on voting in school financial elections, based on more than 100 research reports published since 1960. In their discussion, the authors attempt to objectively catalogue significant research findings, as well as to evaluate the findings and relate them to each other. Chapter 1 introduces the…

Chapter 7 of a book on school law, this chapter deals with 1979 cases involving disputes over property. Cases involving taxpayer attempts to prevent the construction of school buildings dominate this year's property chapter, as they did last year's. Yet, paradoxically, there is also a significant increase in cases in which taxpayers tried to…

Numerous cases in this year's chapter dealt with the same topics of previous years--contracts and bids for building construction, and detachment and annexation of a portion of a school district. The courts continued to attribute board discretionary authority to school boards in school property matters. Intergovernmental disputes over ownership or…

This report on the sequence of events and administrative decisions leading up to voter action on public library bond issues presents a description of the process that each of three Illinois cities went through. In two of the three cities a new library has no t been built because the bond issue referendums were defeated by the voters. In the third…

This report examines the relative merits of three types of bonds available in Pennsylvania for financing school buildings. These types are: (1) general obligation (GO) -- issued by the school board with or without the assent of electors, (2) municipal authorities created by local municipalities -- authorized to issue bonds to finance building…

SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE PROCESSES AND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY IN RELATION TO SCHOOL BOND ISSUES WERE STUDIED. IN THE FIRST SECTION, CHAPTER I ATTEMPTED TO PLACE SCHOOL BOND ISSUES IN THE GENERAL CONTEXT OF EDUCATIONAL NEEDS, AND CHAPTER II PRESENTED A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE AND RESEARCH STUDIES THAT HAVE DEALT WITH…

Legislative actions pertaining to Washington public higher education during the last two years are described. The reports list the major resolutions passed, laws enacted, and legislative appropriations. State legislation dealt with: establishment of the Washington library network; retirement systems; bookkeeping transactions; travel expenses; bond…

Public colleges and universities are seeking the authority to issue millions of dollars' worth of bonds to pay for construction projects. These requests are emerging as one of the major higher-education issues in legislative sessions this year. (MLW)

An executive of Moody's Investors Service explains what past experience has taught the company about municipal analysis, how a bond issue is assigned a credit rating, and what issuers can do to obtain the best rating. (MLF)

Explains the proposed revisions to Internal Revenue Service regulations that would require school districts to calculate the earnings on investments and deduct these earnings from bond obligations. Demonstrates how the revisions would restrict use of the proceeds of short-term investment of borrowed funds and limit cash on hand. (MLF)

Examines the linkage between facility bond elections and the indicators of wealth (property valuation and income) and the appropriateness of relying on property valuations as the primary indicator of school district wealth. Results from 31 randomly selected schools in Nebraska show an unclear relationship between wealth factors and success in…

Ten years ago the new superintendent of District 11 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, learned the proposed budget was $12 million out of balance. Now the district has sound financial backing thanks to improving business practices. (MLF)

A special report from experts in school finance, construction, and design covers the rating of school bonds, estimating building costs, and elementary school design. (MLF)