HARRISBURG – Dozens of school districts across Pennsylvania will get a funding boost for a wide range of new construction projects, with attractive financing that will save hundreds of millions of dollars, announced Gov. Edward G. Rendell .
Rendell said 46 school districts will receive more than $600 million in bonds made possible through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The ARRA program will save the districts – and taxpayers — an estimated $513 million in financing costs.
“These funds will help put people to work on vital construction projects, save energy costs and help improve educational programs – and the attractive financing will save the taxpayers more than half a billion in financing costs,” Rendell said. “With federal help, we lowered costs and are helping our districts make these terrific improvements. It’s what the Recovery Act is all about.”
Rendell said the school districts – a mix of large and small, rural and urban — will use the special financing toward projects that will reduce their energy or water consumption, construction that will enable a district to boost its kindergarten, pre-K or upgrade early childhood education, or give more students access to science, technology or engineering lab settings.
The 46 school districts have plans for 101 projects which meet those priorities; 63 projects will reduce energy or water consumption; 28 will improve early childhood education facilities and; 27 will increase access to applied learning labs.
Pennsylvania’s allocation for the Qualified School Construction Bonds was $602 million – the sixth largest allocation in the nation. Under the program, the federal government pays essentially 100 percent of the interest on the QSCB bonds, which are issued under the recovery act’s Build America Bonds program.
“We went one step further to decrease the costs,” Rendell said. “For the first time in the commonwealth’s history, we’re doing one single bond issue, which means that rather than 46 school districts each paying their own bond counsel and underwriting, the Public School Building Authority will handle the function for all of them at once. It means that each district will pay just a small portion of the one-time cost for the bond work.”
Rendell was joined today by representatives of four districts receiving the funds: Lancaster, Palmyra, Donegal and York.
Below is a list, by region, of school districts eligible for QSCB funds, and the amount (in thousands):
Altoona/Johnstown Area: $14,214
Clearfield Area – $1,965
Harmony Area – $9,700
Glendale -$2,549
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Area: $125,177
Scranton – $59,627
Stroudsburg Area – $17,000
Wilkes-Barre Area – $800
Williamsport Area – $32,750
Wyoming Valley West – $15,000
Greater Philadelphia: $83,242
Downingtown Area – $28,303
Great Valley – $999
Lower Moreland Twp – $1,000
Norristown Area – $15,600
Radnor Township – $1,500
Southeast Delco – $15,750
Upper Darby – $5,090
William Penn – $15,000
Lehigh Valley: $20,666
Allentown City – $5,666
Conrad Weiser Area – $15,000
Northeast: $28,852
Carbondale Area – $15,000
East Stroudsburg Area – $1,220
Hazleton Area – $10,370
Panther Valley – $2,262
Greater Pittsburgh: $153,444
Big Beaver Falls Area – $1,638
Cornell – $476
Duquesne City – $645
East Allegheny – $15,000
Farrell Area – $810
Jeannette City – $1,715
McKeesport Area – $15,000
New Castle Area – $15,000
Peters Township – $770
Pittsburgh – $50,503
Sharon City – $15,000
South Fayette Twp – $16,887
Washington – $20,000
Northwest: $30,505
Corry Area – $2,901
Erie City – $22,078
Otto-Eldred – $5,526
Susquehanna Valley: $146,310
Donegal – $17,000
Harrisburg City – $9,194
Lancaster – $55,281
Lebanon – $15,000
Mahanoy Area – $2,235
Palmyra Area – $15,000
Purchase Line – $8,000
York City – $24,600
Statewide total: $602.4 million
