Plan to help schools "go green"

Lawmakers Sunday unveiled a plan to offer school districts low-interest loans to install solar panels on rooftops, build wind turbines or convert diesel-guzzling buses to battery power. The cash for the loans would come from the vast swaths of land set aside to benefit schoolchildren in the 1800s. The state already invests proceeds from land sales, spends part of the interest and boasts a $581 million balance in the account. Rather than investing that money as the state typically would, it would lend some to schools at rates that are lower than a bank's but high enough to match or outstrip the fund's traditional return. The fund's rate of return is 5.1 percent at the moment, said state Treasurer Cary Kennedy...Denver Post