Four area school districts are seeking more than $39 million in bond issues on the Nov. 3 ballot to make improvements at their schools, and all of them hope to take advantage of interest-free bonds through the federal stimulus program.

Meanwhile, Lindbergh schools are asking voters for a waiver that would give the district greater flexibility in setting property tax rates without the constraints of a state sales tax law.

Hillsboro, De Soto, Riverview Gardens and Winfield school districts have placed bond issues on the ballot. In all school districts, a four-sevenths majority is needed for approval.

As part of the federal stimulus, school districts that pass the ballot measures can seek no-interest federal bonds. Even so, the districts must apply to the federal government to receive the no-interest funds.

The Hillsboro district in Jefferson County is seeking an $18 million bond issue to renovate its intermediate school and to refinance the district's existing lease debt. The renovations, which would include centralized heating and cooling, safety improvements and improved classrooms and commons area, would cost about $12 million.

De Soto schools, also in Jefferson County, are seeking an $11.5 million bond issue to make improvements to four of its five schools.

The Winfield district in Lincoln County is seeking a $5 million bond issue to make school improvements. The district would use $2.5 million from the bond issue to pay off lease-purchase agreements the district has entered into and convert them into bonds. That move will free up more than $400,000 annually, which will be put into the operating budget.

Riverview Gardens is seeking a $15 million bond issue to make repairs and updates to the schools and central office.

The interest-free bonds program helped the De Soto schools decide to place the bond issue on the ballot, said assistant superintendent Chuck Hasty. "We were talking about doing one anyway, and when the opportunity presented itself, it caused us to perk up our ears a little bit, " he said.

The Lindbergh schools issue is a complicated one, but one that will not raise taxes and will eliminate a confusing step if the district were to seek a tax increase, said district chief financial officer Pat Lanane.

Lindbergh is asking voters to vote yes for Proposition L, which would free the district from a restriction contained in a 1982 state tax law. That law, called Proposition C, authorizes a 1 percent sales tax for public schools across the state.

School districts get to keep all of their share of the sales tax revenue if they have a property tax rate no higher than $2.75. For districts with higher property tax rates, half of the sales tax money must be returned to taxpayers in the form of a property tax rollback.

Lindbergh isn't required to provide a rollback because its property tax rate is $2.75. But the district would have to provide the rollback should it want to raise its property tax rate.

The district is now asking voters to approve a waiver from that rollback requirement. Numerous districts in the state already have done so, the district says.

Without such a waiver, Lindbergh would have to factor in the cost of the rollback into any property tax increase it might seek from voters. Asking for more money and promising to give part of it back is confusing and misleading to voters, Lanane said.