The board of trustees or other governing body (the governing body) of each of the school districts of the State shall be empowered to incur general obligation debt for their respective school districts as permitted by Section 15 of New Article X and in accordance with its provisions and limitations. All laws relating to such matters shall continue in force and effect after the ratification date, but all such laws are amended as follows:

1. If no election be prescribed in such law and an election is required by New Article X, then in every such instance, a majority vote of the qualified electors of the school district voting in the referendum herein authorized is declared a condition precedent to the issuance of bonds pursuant to such law. The governing body of each of the school districts shall be empowered to order any such referendum as is required by New Article X or any other provisions of the Constitution, to prescribe the notice thereof and to conduct or cause to be conducted such referendum in the manner prescribed by Article 1, Chapter 71, Title 59, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976.

2. If an election be prescribed by the provisions of such law, but is not required by the provisions of New Article X, then in every such instance, no election need be held and the remaining provisions of such law shall constitute a full and complete authorization to issue bonds in accordance with such remaining provisions.

3. If a statutory debt limitation be prescribed by any such law, then in lieu thereof, the debt limitation shall be that resulting from the provisions of Section 15 of New Article X.

4. As permitted by paragraph 7, Section 15 of New Article X, all school districts are authorized and empowered to incur general obligation debt in anticipation of the collection of ad valorem taxes (tax anticipation notes). Tax anticipation notes shall be expressed to mature not later than ninety days from the date as of which such taxes may be paid without penalty. Tax anticipation notes shall be issued pursuant to a resolution adopted by the governing body.

5. The provisions of Chapter 17, Title 11, relating to the issuance of bond anticipation notes, shall continue in force and effect after the ratification date with respect to all school districts, and the governing body of each school district is hereby authorized and empowered to issue bond anticipation notes pursuant to and in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 17, Title 11 and the limitations imposed by paragraph 8, Section 15 of New Article X.

6. Notwithstanding provision of law to the contrary, an issue of general obligation bonds maturing not later than ten years from their date of issuance and in the amount of not exceeding one million five hundred thousand dollars may be sold at private sale and without advertisement, if not less than seven days prior to their delivery, notice of intention to sell such bonds at private sale is given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the school district. Such notice shall set forth the purchaser, the purchase price, interest rates, and maturity schedule of such bonds.

7. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a school district may issue general obligation bonds in accordance with one or more of the following provisions:

(a) The principal amount of the bonds maturing in a given year shall be in an amount as prescribed by the governing body. The first maturing bonds of an issue shall mature within five years from the date on which they are issued; and no bond shall mature later than thirty years from the date on which it is issued.

(b) The bonds shall be sold at public sale, after advertisement of the sale in a newspaper having general circulation in the State or in a financial publication published in the City of New York or, in the discretion of the authorities, in both publications. The advertisement must appear not less than seven days prior to the date set as a sale date for the sale. The advertisement may set a fixed date not less than seven days following publication, or the advertisement may advise that the sale date will be at least seven days following the date of publication. If a fixed date of sale is not set forth in the notice of sale published in accordance with this subitem, the date selected for the receipt of bids must be disseminated via an electronic information service at least forty-eight hours prior to the time set for the receipt of bids. If a fixed date of sale is set forth in this notice of sale, it may be modified by notice disseminated via an electronic information service at least forty-eight hours prior to the time set for the receipt of bids on the modified date of sale. No bonds may be sold pursuant to this section on a date that is more than sixty days after the date of the most recent publication of the notice of sale. Bids for the purchase of bonds may be received in such form as determined by the governing body of the issuer.

(c) The bonds may be disposed of at private sale if there are no bids received or if all bids are rejected. The provisions of this section shall not prevent a sale at private sale to the United States of America or any agency thereof.

(d) Any bonds issued pursuant to this section may be issued with a provision for their redemption prior to their maturity at par and accrued interest, plus such redemption premium as may be prescribed by the governing body of the issuer, but no bond shall be redeemable before maturity unless it contains a statement to that effect. In the proceedings authorizing the issuance of the bonds, provisions shall be made specifying the manner of call and the notice that must be given.

8. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, bonds issued as Qualified School Construction Bonds in amounts not exceeding one and a half million dollars pursuant to the provisions of 26 U.S.C. Section 54F may be sold at public or private sale at the price determined by the governing body of the issuer.

HISTORY: 1977 Act No. 125 Section 6; 1999 Act No. 113, Section 22; 2009 Act No. 68, Section 5.

Editor's Note

2009 Act No. 68 Section 6 provides as follows:

"The powers and authorizations conferred by this act shall be in addition to all other powers and authorizations previously conferred upon the State Superintendent of Education, the State Department of Education, and the school districts of the State. The provisions of this act are remedial in nature and shall be liberally construed in order to give full force and effect to its provisions."