Most of us are used to earning small amounts of interest on our savings accounts, but imagine earning more than ten million dollars.

On Tuesday night, the Springfield School Board learned that's exactly what's happened to the $96.5 million worth of bond money voters approved in 2006.  Plus, some of that bond money was put away in 2006 to cover any potential increases in construction costs.  Instead, projects have consistently come in under budget.
     
So, the district now has a surplus of about $16 million extra from the 2006 bond issue.  Tuesday night, it was advised to use that money to air condition the rest of the district's school buildings and help pay for the construction of a new Hickory Hills building.
     
Also, at Tuesday night's meeting, the district talked about plans to change its school boundaries to ease overcrowding and clear up some unusual feeder patterns, which are splitting up classmates as they move into high school.
      
The district says not only is it looking to alter the boundaries for the 2009/2010 school year, it hopes to continue the review process time and again in the future.

"We need to be able to create a system of boundaries where it's always going to be changing based on needs of children as well as neighborhoods and growth of neighborhoods or decline of neighborhoods." explains R-12 Superintendent Norm Ridder.

The public will get a chance to see the new boundary alternates on July 28 on the district's website.  It will also hold town meetings on August 12, September 11 and October 9.