How did the district pay for the new Hickory Hills School?
The board approved the construction of the new Hickory Hills school in the fall of 2006. The need for a new facility was identified because of safety and traffic concerns at the school’s former location at the intersection of Highway 65 and Chestnut Expressway. To pay for the project, the board issued a lease-purchase agreement valued at $19.5 million. Wise investment of the $96.5 million from the bond issue approved by voters in April 2006 and effective management of construction projects associated with the bond resulted in $16 million in additional funding. The board approved the decision to use $10.8 million of that money toward paying down the lease purchase agreement for Hickory Hills. (Additional revenue from the 2006 bond was also used to air condition Bowerman, Campbell and Shady Dell schools, on top of completing all projects proposed in the 2006 bond). Paying down the lease purchase for Hickory Hills reduced the annual payment from $1.5 million to $650,000. The remaining $9
