School district refinances bonds to save millions

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

The Mansfield ISD school board got an influx of cash Tuesday night, picking up $52 million in savings and cash.

Michele Trongaard, associate superintendent of business and finance, delivered the good news.

The City of Mansfield gifted the school district with $500,000 in CARES Act funds that they received and did not use, and those funds will be matched by the Texas Education Agency, leading to $1 million in funding, Trongaard said.

“The funds will go for technology for distance learning,” she explained.

“All we received was about to about $3 million in CARES Act fund, which offset 2019-2020 state aid,” Trongaard said. “We get paid on the kids that come to school. From March through May, kids weren’t in school. The state said we are going to use the federal funding to make up the loss in funding for kids not being in school.”

An even bigger savings came from refinancing bonds due to the drop in interest rates.

“It’s a great time to do it because the yield curve is low,” Trongaard said. “We’re looking at (refinancing) $400 million in bonds. The average interest rate is 4.6 percent and the we’re looking at 2.1 percent, so the savings will be 2.5 percent, about $51 million in gross debt savings over 25 years.”

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