Stafford officials review comprehensive needs assessment and bond scenarios; public urges putting measure to voters

At a joint meeting of the Stafford Municipal School District and the City of Stafford, Superintendent Robert Bostic and outside consultants reviewed a comprehensive needs assessment and several bond-sale scenarios as community members urged the district to seek voter approval for facility funding.

Bostic told attendees, “for the record, you do not have a bond. You don't have a bond at all,” and said the materials being discussed — produced by LAN (facility assessment) and RBC Capital (financing scenarios) — are estimates intended to frame community input. He said the district borrowed about $5,000,000 for emergency post‑hurricane repairs and bus purchases and that the comprehensive list of all projects as presented would total about $246,576,931 if every item were included.

Why this matters: the board and the city must decide whether to place a bond proposition before voters; the consultants presented multiple price points with different tax impacts. One scenario the consultants and staff highlighted was an $80,000,000 package that the district says could be issued with “no additional tax increase.” Larger scenarios discussed would increase the tax rate; presenters cited…