The Dawson County School System will soon be able to pay for some of its projects listed in the latest 1-cent education sales tax referendum.

The board of education gave unanimous approval to sell $15 million worth of bonds at its March 8 meeting.

Jamie Ulrich, the school’s business manager, explained bonds as “forward funding.”

“We’ll get the money now, and we can go ahead and take care of the projects before receiving the tax receipts to repay the debt,” Ulrich said.

Superintendent Keith Porter said a bond underwriter the school hired was “able to get a very favorable interest rate on the bonds of 1.53 percent, which is a phenomenal rate.”

Porter said that, generally, 3 percent is “considered very good.”

Added Porter: “It allows our school system to have more funds available for future projects due to the fact that we won’t be paying nearly as much interest on those bonds as we had anticipated.”

Several school projects will be funded by the $15 million in bonds, including the purchase of property and construction of a new alternative school.

The board of education moved forward March 8 with negotiations to buy 3.6 acres next to Dawson County Middle School to construct the new alternative school.