Lincoln Way 210 board sets hearing to consider $30 million life-safety bond for HVAC work

The Lincoln Way 210 Board of Education moved on Feb. 20 to schedule a public hearing on a proposed life-safety bond that would fund HVAC and other life-safety projects the Illinois State Board of Education approved. The district’s administrative team and its financial advisor presented a financing plan that would issue roughly $30–31 million in life-safety bonds, with a projected interest cost and payback bringing the district’s net outlay to the mid‑$40 million range.

District staff said the State-authorized life-safety list totals $30,420,000 and includes air handlers, chillers, boilers and building controls identified in a recent facility assessment. “These are not units in our home,” a district administrator said in describing the high capital and repair cost of school HVAC equipment. The district’s financial adviser, Bob Lewis of PMA Securities, told the board the recent change in state law allows every district to access life‑safety borrowing even if it lacks a prior debt…