To help prepare for future growth in the system, the Cullman City School Board approved the sale of bonds Tuesday night to fund capital projects.

The board passed a resolution authorizing the sale and issuance of Special Tax School Warrants in the amount of $12 million to be paid back over the next 30 years.

Matt Adams, managing director at Raymond James Public Finance, presented some of the details of the sale before its approval during Tuesday’s meeting.

He said interest rates are very low right now, and that works out well for the school system because the best time to sell bonds is when the rates are low.

“It’s an extremely low interest rate environment,” he said. “So it really couldn’t have set up better to sell the bonds.”

Cullman City School Superintendent Susan Patterson said the sale was approved to help finance the building of new facilities or expansion of the system’s current schools in the coming years.

Over the last two years, the system has conducted a facility study to assess the status of the city’s current buildings, as well as a population study to make sure the schools will be able to keep up with the growing number of people who are moving into Cullman, she said.

“We know we will need additional room for elementary students,” she said.

Patterson said those studies have been used to develop a 10-year plan for the system’s capital projects, and there are a few options on the table for the coming years to make sure there is enough room for elementary students.

Those possibilities include adding on to Cullman City Primary School — which would first require an additional road to be built as an entrance and exit to the school — or the building of an intermediate school to take the load off of the elementary schools, she said.

“We have some possibilities, but the path we’re going to take has not been determined,” she said.