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The school district may see hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of savings in the near future.

During Monday night’s USD 204 Board of Education meeting, members began the first of what may turn into several discussions regarding the refinancing of a portion of the 2000 bond issue.

Leading the discussion was David Arteberry, senior vice president of George K. Baum and Company that would serve as the underwriter for the refinancing, who said the portion of the 2000 bond issue to be refinanced would be the balance left over after part of the issue was refinanced in 2005. Arteberry said the 2000 bond was issued in part to finance new projects in the district and in part to refinance older, outstanding bonds. The district was able to refinance the new portion of that bond issue in 2005, but the callable date of the portion used to refinance older bonds wasn’t until Sept. 1 of this year. The callable date, as Arteberry said, is “when the issuer (of the bonds) has the opportunity to immediately pay off and cancel the bonds.”

To refinance the 2000 bonds, Arteberry said, the district will need to issue new bonds. By doing so, it could see close to $600,000 in savings and a lowered interest rate from 5.53 percent down to 3.07 percent. Arteberry said there were several ways the district could choose to take the savings.

“It’s possible that it could choose to take all of those savings in the very last years of the bond issue,” Arteberry said. “It might be able to cut its last payment in half, or eliminate the last payment. Or it could take all the savings in next year’s budget.”

Arteberry said another option would be for the district to see savings during the entire course of the bond issue, by choosing to pay a lesser amount on the issue each month.

“There’s not one best way to take the savings,” Arteberry said. “What they’ll have to decide is what for them is the most meaningful to them to take advantage of that savings.”

The federal tax code, Arteberry said, would allow the district to refinance within 90 days of Sept. 1, 2010, but it still must complete two steps. The district will first need to authorize a sale of bonds, where it will pass a resolution outlining a minimum amount of savings it would like to see from the new bond issue. Then George K. Baum and Company will market the bond to potential investors.

“(At that point) we will return (to the district) with actually the final results of that bond sale in hand and the final savings level in hand,” Arteberry said, noting the final step would be for the district to issue the new bond.

Arteberry said he anticipated this portion of the process to be taken care of in April or May. The total amount of the new bond the district will have to issue to pay off the 2000 bond, he said, would be close to $4.3 million.

Superintendent Robert Van Maren said, given the ever-looming possibility of further budget cuts coming down from the state, the district would probably choose to take the savings over the life of the new bond issue, which will be 10 years.

“At least (then), you can plan,” Van Maren said. “Any savings at this point of time will be great, but I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet, so we need to have those savings coming in in the next three, four, five years. I think that’s the thinking at this point in time.”

He added that an interest rate of 3.07 was something the district was jumping to take advantage of.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to get the chance to refinance at this low a rate again,” Van Maren said.

Also on Monday, the board:

• Unanimously approved the agenda.

• Approved, 6-1 with Connie Hadley abstaining due to an absence, the board minutes from the Jan. 4 meeting.

• Unanimously approved the treasurer and clerk’s report.

• Approved, 6-1with Ray Cox opposed, warrants totaling $128,284 for Schools For Fair Funding.

• Unanimously approved the exclusion health policy. The policy calls for students to only be excluded from school if an outbreak of an illness occurs and they are not immunized. The student will be excluded from school until the incubation period for the outbreak is over.

• Heard a presentation from Jason Romanishin, art teacher at Bonner Springs High School, and his photography student, sophomore Renee Dumler, who was a finalist in a recent art competition in Merriam. Romanishin said that 22 high schools and three home schools were represented at the competition. Out of 650 entries submitted, Romanishin said, 150 works were chosen as finalists, including Dumler’s “Staircase of Dreams,” a black and white work created through multiple film exposure.

“I just love photography so much,” Dumler said during her portion of the presentation. “It makes me happy.”

Though she noted that she didn’t plan on going into photography as a profession.

“It’s something I do on my own time,” she said.

• Approved bids to School Center, for Web hosting service, for $6,210.75; Time Warner, for Internet service, for $165 per month; and AT&T, for cellular service, for $966.40 per month.

• Talked about further advancement in negotiations. board president Gregg Gibson said that the district and Bonner Springs Kansas National Education Association had noticed each other on what needs to be discussed in future negotiations. Some items will include the reduction in force policy and the salary schedule. Gibson said the district’s negotiations committee would meet with Bonner Springs KNEA president Deb Loker soon to begin discussions.

• Unanimously approved all contracts and resignations.

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