BY JIM NORWOOD
Follow Money
Tap Into Approved School Funding for Capital Projects
S
choolBondFinder has found
that the funding landscape
for public education is shift-
ing rapidly in the United States,
making it more important than
ever for companies who serve
schools to have early knowledge
of where “actionable” dollars will
be available. Traditionally, schools
pay for ongoing operating expens-
es through funds raised primarily
from local property taxes.
Capital improvement projects, on the
other hand, are funded by the issuance
of bonds to raise the dollars to build
14 essentials | summer 2017
new schools, to renovate and improve
existing buildings, and to acquire new
physical items. These bonds are then
paid back over time from an increase
in local tax revenues. Early knowledge
of bond dollars becoming available (or
disappearing) is crucial for companies
providing equipment and services to
public schools because shifting political
priorities and movements to provide
greater “educational choice” through
vouchers, charter schools, and other
methods mean that the opportunities
and dollars that businesses seek may not
be where they were in the past.
Public school funding has often been
difficult and contentious under the best
of circumstances. In the current political
climate, the challenges have become
even more daunting. For example,
states like Oklahoma have led the nation
in state cuts to school funding over
the last ten years. As a result, nearly a
quarter of the state’s school districts are
resorting to four day school weeks in an
attempt to trim expenses in areas such
as transportation and energy consump-
tion. In situations where operating
expenses are so restricted, the ability to
raise capital improvement dollars for
new construction or renovation is also
constrained. The state is in some ways
a case study for a philosophy endorsed
by Education Secretary Betsy De-
Vos, a proponent of what she calls an
“educational choice” movement. Ms.
DeVos has called for the diversion of
public school funds to “vouchers and