Tax-exempt revenue bonds will pave the way for the new, permanent home of Lake Charles Charter Academy, according to an academy foundation board member.

“The new school will be financed with private dollars,” Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux, foundation president, said Friday. “And it will certainly be an ancillary boost to the local economy.”

On Thursday, the Louisiana State Bond Commission approved tax-exempt revenue bonds of up to $18 million at a 10 percent rate for up to 30 years.

“That does not necessarily mean that $18 million is going to be issued,” Thibodeaux said. “$18 million dollars is authorized, but obviously we’re not going to need that to achieve our capital objectives for building the school.”

He said the school has a projected cost of $8.5 million.

Ziegler Capital Markets is the underwriter for the project and will sell the bonds on the open market, Thibodeaux said.

“We don’t expect that there will be any difficulty in selling these tax-exempt bonds, nor do we expect any difficulty in the financing of our facility,” he said. “These funds are going to be used for the acquisition of the land and the payment of the construction costs for the new school.”

Thibodeaux said he hoped the bonds would be sold in about two weeks, at which time the school would begin its October groundbreaking.