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Gov. Bev Perdue today signed Senate Bill 754, enabling North Carolina schools to use interest-free bonds for school construction, repair and renovation as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“Our children need a welcoming and encouraging learning environment, one that makes them excited to come to school every day,” Perdue said. “These bonds create a win-win situation – new jobs and better classrooms.”
                                        
The bill enables local education agencies to administer $275,772,000 in bonding authority for new, qualified school construction bonds (QSCB) and gives $56,699,000 in bonding authority to continue qualified zone academy bonds (QZAB).

The federal government already identified five North Carolina counties with low-income school districts that will receive money through QSCB as a result of the bill:

• Mecklenburg County – $25,962,000
• Forsyth County – $12,244,000
• Guilford County – $17,147,000
• Wake County – $17,304,000
• Cumberland County – $15,948,000

The State Board of Education has administered QZAB since 1997. To apply for QZAB, individual schools must have 35 percent of their student population receiving free or reduced lunch.  This money can only be used for repair and renovation and requires school districts to partner with businesses that will match 10 percent of the bond’s face-value through cash or in-kind contributions.

The QSCB is a new bond program created through the ARRA that provides money for repair, renovation and new construction.  There are no prerequisites for applying, and it does not require a business match.

The bonds will be administered through the School Planning Section of the School Support Division.