A Wall Street Journal article in the Friday, November 30th paper criticized school districts in other states for pushing a lot of the debt service into later years. As bond counsel to many Idaho Districts, I would point out that Idaho law requires school districts to pay debt “as nearly as practicable” with equal annual payments unless the State Superintendent approves an alternative plan. Though this section should be amended so that every payback plan doesn’t have to be approved by the State Superintendent, I expect the premise that debt should be repaid no less rapidly than equal annually will remain.
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