Interest-free school construction bonds totalling $3 million and benefiting two local schools will be on the table when the Vicksburg Warren School District trustees meet Thursday.

The project would fund additions at Warrenton Elementary School and Vicksburg Junior High School that would replace decades-old portable classrooms, Superintendent James Price said Tuesday. In addition, a field house at the junior high school might also be part of the package.

To head off operational budget questions, Price said he also will discuss the need for a contingency plan should Gov. Haley Barbour not call into special session the Legislature in time to pass a budget for the fiscal year beginning a week from today.

“I’ll discuss with them where we are and what I think we need to do” in terms of local school spending, Price said.

The trustees passed a $78.6 million budget in March, built on anticipated revenues of about $74.8 million and with an effective date of July 1, the same as the state’s new spending year. Slightly more than 50 percent of the district’s revenues come from state funds. Unless the Legislature has passed and the governor has signed a state budget by that date, the district is in uncharted waters — spending money without legal assurance funds will be forthcoming.

The school construction proposal is a last-minute addition to the meeting’s agenda, and Price said he will do whatever it takes to have preliminary architectural and building plans ready and application paperwork completed to present to the board at its meeting.

The bonds’ availability was announced Monday around 5 p.m.

“They’re first-come, first-served,” he said, “and I want to be first.”

Price is consulting architects and builders as well as examining “the ground rules” of the bond application process. The board will meet at 5:30 Thursday at the district’s main offices on Mission 66.

Price said he’s looking for $1.5 million for each school. “If I get the full $3 million I’ll be thrilled,” he said. “If I get $1.5 million I’ll be tickled. If I don’t get anything, well, I’ll be right where I am already.”

The 9,000-student district reserves capital funds in each year’s budget for scheduled improvements at its 14 academic buildings.

The bonds, a statewide total of just over $132 million made available through federal stimulus money directed to the Mississippi Qualified School Construction Bonds program, enables interest-free borrowing for approved local projects.

Some initial information about the program was released May 29 to state education officials by the U.S. Department of Education. QSCBs provide funding for new construction as well as renovation to existing schools. State allocation limits were set by the U.S. Treasury Department, with the federal government covering most or all of the interest on the bonds, the program announcement stated.

It was not immediately clear how long districts will have to pay back the funds if borrowing was approved, “but it would be better to use their money and pay it back interest-free,” Price noted.

Trailers have been in use at Warrenton for about 25 years, he said. He will propose a plan that will build a wing on to the school that will add about eight classrooms, an increase over what is available.

The school population at Warrenton averages 450 to 470 students, Price said.

A similar plan will be proposed for Vicksburg Junior High School, which averages about 800 students. Trailers have been used there for perhaps 30 years, he said.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com