(1) For acquiring a building site, building or equipping a new school building, repairing, making additions to, or equipping a present school building, purchasing new or used school buses or refurbishing school buses, or the professional development and training of teachers or other programs authorized under the federally recognized qualified zone academy bond program codified at 26 U.S.C. § 1397E [repealed], any school district of the State of Arkansas is authorized to borrow money and issue negotiable bonds for the repayment thereof from school funds.
(2) Subsection (a) of this section shall not prohibit the conversion of authorized bond issues to bonds bearing a lower rate of interest, subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Education, upon such terms that the school district shall receive no less and pay no more in principal and interest combined than it would receive and pay in principal and interest combined if the bonds were not converted.