NEW: Former AZ Lawmaker's Charter Schools Secure New Muni Bond Issue, Bringing State-Blessed Debt Load To $89.5M (ARIZONA'S POLITICAL SHORTS)

(CORRECTION: This article has been re-written to reflect that Eddie Farnsworth is not a brother of current State Sen. David Farnsworth. Eddie's brother named David is the current Executive Director of the entity which purchased the Benjamin Franklin Charter Schools from Eddie. Arizona's Politics regrets any confusion resulting from the error.)

Congratulations to former State Senator and Charter School mogul Eddie Farnsworth. His new $19.5M Arizona IDA bond issue hit the market this past week, to benefit the Queen Creek campuses.

Farnsworth's brother, David (not related to the current State Senator David Farnsworth), is the Executive Director of the Benjamin Franklin Charter Schools.  David represented BFCS at the Nov. 30 meeting when Arizona agreed to grant its blessing to make the loan (aka the bonds) tax-free to the lenders (the bondholders). Bond experts Moody’s notes that the charter schools will now have $89.5M in state sponsored bonds outstanding.

 

While with the Arizona Republic, Craig Harris* reported extensively on the former lawmaker's efforts to build a long-term money-making charter school operation.

* Get ready, Coronado (CA, and seasonal AZ refugees), Craig announced yesterday that The Coronado News will be starting up on Feb. 1. He'll be the editor. Congratulations to David AND Craig!

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