Houston Chronicle: State Bond Fund In Trouble

TEA's guarantee on school bonds in peril
If approved items on the Nov. 6 ballot would bust cap

By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Bond projects

HISD will ask voters to approve an $805 million bond in a Nov. 6 election. Here are documents showing how some of the money is being spent.

Documents are included for all high school renovations, as well as Middle school renovations worth $10 million or more:


A state program that allows school districts to sell bonds at lower interest rates could be tapped out if voters approve the slew of school bonds on the Nov. 6 ballot — meaning districts may need to spend millions more to finance construction.

The Texas Education Agency's bond guarantee program, which can accommodate roughly $53 billion in bonds, was only $4.7 billion shy of capacity as of Aug. 31. While that's a substantial amount, two of the state's heavy hitters, the Cypress-Fairbanks and Houston school districts, will be asking voters for a total of more than a billion and a half dollars in next month's election.

All told, about 60 Texas districts are seeking $7.6 billion, which would bust the cap by nearly $3 billion.... (get the entire piece at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5236349.html)