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School committee reviews financing toolkit for unfinished facility master plan
Summary
Committee members reviewed options to fund unfinished Facility Master Plan work — short‑term tax anticipation notes, longer COP debt, and private‑public partnerships — and discussed tradeoffs including use of permanent improvement (PI) levy dollars and impact on other projects. No action was taken; district staff will return with detailed numbers and models.
The Columbus City School District Academic Facility Alignment Committee discussed financing options to advance unfinished projects in the district’s Facility Master Plan and the tradeoffs each choice would impose on the district’s permanent improvement (PI) fund. Committee members were told that roughly 46 of 112 target buildings from the 2002 plan are complete and that closures and changing enrollment patterns have altered the district’s portfolio and sequencing.
A presenter summarized four broad financing tools for the board to consider. First, the district could issue a tax anticipation note (TAN) backed by PI levy receipts; staff said TANs are short‑term debt with a 10‑year maximum and higher near‑term payments but can allow more projects to move forward in the short run. Second, certificates of participation (COPs) were described as lease‑style debt that can be amortized for up to 30 years, reducing annual payments while longer‑term encumbering PI capacity. Both TANs and COPs retain the option to partner with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC), staff said, but will eat into PI dollars available for maintenance and other projects.
The committee also examined private‑public partnerships (P3s) as a third option. Staff described P3s as a way to share development costs and create co‑use opportunities (affordable housing, medical facilities, small retail) that could lower the district’s upfront costs. The presenter warned, however, that Ohio law and contract requirements create legal complexity: any P3 agreement must preserve the board’s right to reclaim the educational portion of a facility for future use, a clause staff said developers may find difficult. Staff said P3s are used in other states but are relatively new and legally complicated in Ohio; the district will need state‑level coordination and more legal work to pursue them.
Committee members asked staff for concrete examples and additional analysis; staff pointed to California districts and other jurisdictions as models to study and noted local precedents for shared use (for example, a Head Start partner located on a school campus). Members also raised strategic questions about priorities: building the recommended West Broad project would satisfy a task‑force recommendation but would consume PI capacity and delay other projects in the 54% of the portfolio still not built out.
No financing decision was made. Staff said they will return with a detailed, data‑driven analysis of each option, including cash‑flow models, impacts on PI capacity and maintenance, and legal implications for any P3 approach. The committee agreed it will continue the discussion before any formal recommendation to the full board.
