NEWS RELEASE
COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
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Colorado State Treasurer Dave Young announced the successful $507.5 million sale of the Colorado Series 2023A Education Tax Revenue Anticipation Notes (ETRANs) on behalf of the 24 participating public school districts across Colorado.
“Our ability to provide interest-free loans to schools through the ETRANs program keeps schools open for our students, ensuring that districts throughout Colorado can meet their cash flow needs, protecting our hardworking teachers and incredible support staff,” said Colorado State Treasurer Dave Young, a former junior high math teacher.
ETRANs are issued at the start and midway through each fiscal year, funding the State’s Interest Free Education Loan program. Because property taxes are not collected until the spring, it isn’t unusual for school districts to have cash flow shortages in the fall and winter. The legislature designed ETRANs to be an interest-free loan to meet those school district operational needs.
"Eagle County School District considers itself fortunate to have had access to this program. Even with financial stability, we will have a deficit cash flow as early as October. ETRANS will enable us to pay our employees until property taxes are received in the spring and we appreciate the state's efforts to help." said Sandy Farrell, chief operating officer, Eagle County School District.
“Based on increasing property tax valuation, the Lake County School District is projecting to be nearly, if not fully funded through local property tax collections in 2023-24. The District is further impacted by having one single entity accounting for approximately 40% of the total assessed valuation. ETRANs provides critical cash flow for our district to operate from July 1st through the first week in May (10 months) when a majority of property tax is collected,” said Paul Anderson, chief financial officer, Lake County School District.
"Summit County School District is very appreciative of the Colorado Department of the Treasury and their continued stewardship of the ETRANs program, which provides interest-free support from the state. Like many school districts, SSD is heavily funded by property taxes collected in the second half of our school year. The ETRANs program provides SSD with dependable cash flow throughout the year so that we can focus on our student's ongoing personal and academic success," said Kara Drake, chief financial officer, Summit School District.
“For a school district that is funded about 70% from local share, this program allows us to better manage cash flows. Being able to participate in this program prevents the District from having to borrow funds and incur interest charges and therefore increasing the dollars available for student instruction,” said Nikki Schmidt, chief financial officer, Weld RE-4.
The following districts participated in the Series 2023A Notes:
Aspen School District RE-1
Aurora School District (Arapahoe 28J)
Boulder Valley School District RE-2
Cherry Creek (Arapahoe 5)
Denver School District 1
Douglas County RE-1
Eagle County RE-50
East Grand School District
Elizabeth School District
Englewood (Arapahoe 1)
Estes Park (Larimer R-3)
Fairplay (Park RE-2)
Fort Lupton (Weld RE-8)
Gilcrest (Weld 1)
Johnstown-Milliken (Weld RE-5J)
Keenesburg (Weld RE-3J)
Lake County (Leadville)
Littleton (Arapahoe 6)
Mapleton (Adams 1)
Poudre (Larimer R-1)
Summit County RE-1
Telluride (San Miguel R-1)
Thompson (Larimer R2-J)
Windsor (Weld RE-4)
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