Elverado Community Unit School District 196 has $2,011,000 in debt, according to Illinois State Board of Education 2016 financial reports obtained by the Carbondale Reporter.
Because state law allows the district to borrow a total of $3,446,871, Elverado CUSD 196 has reached 58.3 percent of its debt capacity.
The state limits how much school districts can borrow, capping their debt at a percentage of the district's property wealth, as determined by county and township assessors.
Community unit school districts are able to borrow up to 13.8 percent of their total property value, or Equalized Assessed Value (EAV). Elementary school districts are able to borrow up to 6.9 percent of their EAV.
However, school districts exceeding these debt caps are not punished or sanctioned, as the state has no enforcement mechanism in place.
In 2015, Elverado 196, an unit school district, had an EAV of $24,977,328, according to ISBE.
The following table ranks debt held by Jackson County school districts.
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