LAWTON – Comanche County Educational Facilities Authority will issue $2.5 million in lease revenue bonds, which will help Flower Mound Public School move forward with building an early childhood center.
Acting as the Educational Facilities Authority, the Board of Comanche County Commissioners voted 3-0 Monday to approve the county’s bond issue.
Flower Mound will repay the county bonds as the school district issues its general obligation bonds each year, said David Floyd, an attorney with the Norman-based Floyd Law Firm.
“What this does, this allows Flower Mound Schools to get all of its funds up front now and to fund all of its construction in today’s dollars, with today’s prices, and then pay them back with inflated dollars in the future,” he said. “So that the kids that are in the school system now will get the benefit of this facility, not just kids in four or five years, when they’ll be able to build it on their own schedule.”
In November 2021, Flower Mound patrons approved a $2 million bond issue to build an early childhood center, which will include a safe room where students can seek shelter in stormy weather.
“It’s going to be a facility that has an F5-grade storm shelter for everybody in school in a school day, as well as every community member in a two-mile radius,” Flower Mound Superintendent Dax Trent said Monday. “It’s also a community safe project that is good for the area out there.”
The early childhood center is expected to cost about $3 million, but the district has received a $1.2 million federal grant to help cover the cost of building the safe room. The district’s $2 million bond issue will not cover the entire cost of the project, but it will allow district officials to tap other resources to help offset the cost.
Issuing lease revenue bonds for the project now will allow the county to take advantage of current interest rates, said Ryan McDonald, executive vice president with the financial services firm Stephen H. McDonald and Associates.
“Where interest rates are right now, we’re looking at a rising environment, so we’re trying to get this done as quick as we can to get ahead of that,” he said.
Floyd said revenue payments from the school district are the sole source for repaying the lease revenue bonds.
“So, in the event of a default, the obligation would be with the school district,” he said. “There’s no impact to the county.”
The authority waived competitive bidding for the sale of the lease revenue bonds, which allows McDonald to work directly with the underwriter. However, construction materials and supplies for the project would still be subject to competitive bidding.