Scott County School District 2 trustees held a second preliminary determination hearing and unanimously adopted a set of resolutions authorizing the district to seek up to $1.8 million in general-obligation bonds to fund bus replacements, facility repairs, safety equipment and technology.

The resolutions — a project resolution, a preliminary determination resolution, a preliminary bond resolution and a reimbursement resolution — establish maximum financial parameters for the proposed projects and permit the district to proceed with the legal steps necessary to sell bonds, trustees said at the hearing. All motions carried on voice votes recorded as 5-0.

The district presented an itemized plan the board said will guide spending if bonds are sold. The list included an electrical project at Vienna Finley, new emergency radios, kitchen repairs across multiple sites, replacement of a clock system at Lexington, phased bus replacements, staff device payoff and a mulching project at Johnson Elementary. The district estimated the combined project cost at about $1,576,905 and set a maximum borrowing amount of $1,800,000 to allow contingencies and soft costs.

"Maximum project amount is $1,800,000," the district's municipal adviser said, describing the bond parameters and the plan to sell bonds this fall. The adviser also said roughly $100,000 of the maximum would cover costs of issuance, leaving about $1.7 million for "bricks and mortar and ... soft construction costs." He said the district set a maximum repayment term of six years and a maximum interest rate of 6 percent; if bonds were sold immediately, market rates would likely be lower than the 6 percent cap.

The board and municipal adviser described the anticipated schedule: following the hearing the district begins a roughly 30-day petition/remonstrance period (the adviser estimated it ending about Aug. 8), then an appropriation hearing in September to adopt a final bond resolution and, if all proceeds, a bond sale targeted in late August with funds available after a mid-October closing. The adviser said the district will solicit competitive bids and accept the purchaser offering the lowest interest cost.

Public comment focused on past financial concerns and safeguards for bond proceeds. A resident who spoke during the public hearing said earlier financial reviews had found missing funds and expressed skepticism that future bond proceeds would be spent as described. "Somehow, nobody within the financial team of this school district knew that $557,000 had gone missing," the resident said, and asked how the public can be sure bond proceeds will be used for the listed projects.

District staff responded that bond proceeds would be placed in a dedicated project fund with project paperwork tracking expenditures and that reimbursement authority (the reimbursement resolution adopted by the board) preserves the district's ability under federal tax law to reimburse itself for project costs paid before closing. Trustees said the project list was presented so the public would know the district's priorities and that funds would be used for the project items absent an unforeseen emergency (for example, a failing HVAC system).

On specific line items, the district gave the following approximations: an electrical project at Vienna Finley about $160,500; emergency radios about $20,000; kitchen repairs about $45,000; Lexington clock system about $12,000; two buses in the first ordering cycle at roughly $150,000 each and two additional buses in 2026 at about $160,000 each; a minibus near $70,000 in 2026 and another near $75,000 in 2027; staff devices payoff about $174,405; and a mulching project at Johnson Elementary about $60,000. The district said those figures are approximate and that the $1.8 million cap allows for inflation, soft costs and incidental expenses.

Trustees moved and passed the project resolution (motion by Miss Woods; second by Miss Solo; vote 5-0). The board then passed the preliminary determination resolution, the preliminary bond resolution (second by Miss Solow; vote 5-0) and the reimbursement resolution (second by Mr. McIntosh; vote 5-0).

Trustees and advisers emphasized this meeting is an early step in a multi-stage legal process required by Indiana statute. The board noted a prior preliminary hearing was held on June 3, 2025, and that the district will return at a future meeting to adopt final bond documents and proceed with a sale only after the remonstrance and appropriation periods conclude.

The hearing record indicates the board intends to use competitive bidding for the bonds, to keep the final term at or below six years and to accept market rates at sale. The district did not specify exact final tax impacts or the precise annual debt service schedule beyond an adviser estimate that the maximum annual payment in the first year could be roughly $730,000 and that later years would have lower payments as the principal is paid down.

The board concluded the hearing and said it would reconvene in September for the appropriation hearing and final vote on selling the bonds.