School Board approves first sale of bonds for early childhood center

The Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education approved the sale of its first series of bonds to build the early childhood development center on the former St. Anthony Church property next to Belleville High School, as approved by voters last fall.
There were eight bidders for the not-to- exceed $13 million series one bond on Feb. 25 with bids ranging from 2.17 to 2.39% interest, with the winning bid coming from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Series two bond for $9 million will be sold in 2022 and series three for $13.49 million will be sold in 2024.
The 2020 School Building and Site Bonds, Series I (General Obligation – Unlimited Tax) were purchased for the principle price of $12,360,000. Cost to issue the bonds is about $100,382 and any balance remaining from that sum after paying the cost of issuance shall be deposited in the 2020 Capital Projects Fund. The sum of $12,897,814.72 shall be deposited in the 2020 Capital Projects Fund.
For the $13 million bond, the bidder paid $13,627,575.90, with the extra $627,575.90 a premium that when deducted from the total interest cost of $4,857,548.89, left a net interest cost of $4,229,972.99.
Finance Director Sara Cortese said because the competitive bids brought such great interest, the district will get $130,000 more than estimated to put into the project.
She said they estimated paying $25 million in debt and actually it will be $16 million in debt, a savings of $8 million for the taxpayers.
“Once the taxpayer starts paying on this, the rate will go down,” Director Cortese said.
“This will happen two more times,” said board president Amy Pearce, referring to the decision to sell bonds in three series, rather than all at once.
In other business at Monday’s 55-minute meeting, the board:
• Approved adding Michigan Class to the district’s Authorized Investment list. After discussing investment options for the upcoming bond deposit, the district’s investment advisor noted that Michigan Class accounts are outperforming the Huntington portfolios. To make the best investment decisions for the district, Director Cortese asked the board to add Michigan Class to approved investment entities. She said technically, Michigan Class was on the investment list resolution passed in January by the board, but, “I said, oh, we don’t use them right now and I took them off”;
• Approved the District Wireless Controller and Wireless Access point replacement from Sentinel Technologies as presented by IT Network Administrator Sean Garland. E-rate Universal Service Funds is accepting grant applications to cover 90% of costs to replace the district’s Cisco wireless controllers and wireless access points at Belleville High School, McBride Middle School and Owen Intermediate. Garland said the wireless controllers and access points in these buildings are at the end of life with Cisco and will no longer be eligible for support, future enhancements and security updates. The district received two vendor bids and he recommended Sentinel Technologies as part of the E-rate grant application. Base cost of the project is $218,651 and if the district gets the grant, the district’s share would be $23,018. At that time the district would decide whether to move forward with the project or not;
• Heard a presentation from Karen Johnston, homeless liaison, on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. School Supt. Pete Kudlak said board members had asked what this was and so he asked Johnston to explain. Johnston said the law provides for homeless children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. After eligibility is determined the children, including preschool, have a right to attend their school of origin or the school or residence with immediate enrollment, transportation, and free meals. District of origin and district of residence share the cost of transportation, called “taxi costs.” In the 2014-15 school year, there was a total of 114 students and taxi costs of $53,012. In the 2019-20 school year, there were 67 such students and taxi costs of $29,148. Board president Pearce said families should know this is available and not be ashamed to ask for help if they are homeless;
• Approved the retirements of teachers William Spinks of Belleville High School as of June 30, after 15 years of service; and Debra Meier of Rawsonville Elementary School as of June 30 after 43 years of service; and Ryan Kasperski of Owen/McBride as of March 16 for relocation after two years of service;
• Approved the hiring of Jawana Patillo-Edwards as guidance counselor at McBride Middle School as of March 16;
• Heard Director Cortese say she had been asked to seek proposals for new marching band uniforms for next year at an estimated cost of $180,000. She said the current uniforms are 15 years old. Pearce said as the band grew parents went out into the community to get funds. Pearce said the new ones are more awesome and flexible. Cortese said this is expected to come before the board at the first meeting in April. She added, maybe it would be a good idea to set aside funds each year to plan for uniform replacement in the future;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak say on March 10 they would be interviewing three finalists for construction manager of the early childhood development center and a recommendation would come to the board at its next meeting, March 23;
• Heard Trustee Simone Pinter say that she was at Edgemont Elementary School and she saw a girl take down the flag and fold it correctly. Some boys were interested and she taught them how to fold it correctly. Trustee Pinter said when she complimented the girl on her flag work, she said, “I learned it here,” which pleased her a lot; and
• Heard Pearce note that Owen Intermediate School needs more food donated. Director of Instruction Jeff Moore said since Van Buren Today magazine did a feature story on the free food and clothes at Owen more people have been using the service.