By DAVID VITRANO

News Editor

RESERVE — At the specially timed Wednesday meeting of the St. John the Baptist School Board, efforts put into motion in mid-2008 finally started to come to realization.

In the latter part of last year, the board began pushing for a revamping of the parish’s educational facilities, a plan to be funded by the sale of bonds.

In November, St. John voters approved the sale by a margin of nearly 2-1.

Now, exactly three months after being given the go-ahead, the board has sold the first $10 million of what will eventually be $46 million in General Obligation School Bonds.

The bonds were sold at a rate of 4.062875 to national interest Morgan Keegan and Co. Inc., which beat out the only other bidder, Stephens Inc. of Little Rock, Ark. Stephens offered a bid just over one-tenth of a point higher than the successful bid.

Board members had another reason to smile on Wednesday, however, as attorney Hugh Martin informed them their bond rating had improved from BAA1 to A3. This improvement insured the board a lower interest rate, although the bids came in even lower than many expected.

Also, a cell phone call to Martin during the proceedings informed him Keegan agreed to purchase bond insurance, which further improved the bond rating to AAA, the highest rating possible.

“Right now, we’re selling in a market where a lot of bonds across Louisiana are selling at a discount where they end up going for around 6 or 7 percent,” raved board member Russ Wise.

This bond sale will fund the first round of school improvements. The school board will sell the remaining $36 million in bonds over the course of the next four years.