(a) When the refunding bonds are issued to be exchanged for outstanding bonds, it shall not be necessary to advertise them for sale, but they may be executed and delivered to the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education shall, from time to time, as outstanding bonds are presented to him or her for exchange, certify and deliver refunding bonds in face value of the same proportion of the total face value of the refunding bond issue that the face value of the surrendered bonds bears to the total face value of the outstanding bonds to be refunded.
(b)
(1) Refunding bonds may be exchanged for outstanding bonds, as provided in this section, or they may be sold for cash and the proceeds used to pay the outstanding bonds, or part of the refunding bonds may be exchanged and part of the refunding bonds may be sold, as the board of directors may deem best for the school district.
(2) In the event that after a school district has exchanged part of a refunding issue that has been converted to a lower interest rate as herein authorized and it becomes necessary or desirable to sell the balance of such a refunding issue to pay the bonds being refunded instead of exchanging them for refunding bonds, the school district may then advertise and sell the balance at the rate of interest to which the issue has been converted.
(c) If the refunding bonds are sold at public sale to refund outstanding bonds that have been called for redemption, they shall be fully executed and delivered to the designated escrow agent who shall have authority to surrender them, on and after the redemption date of the bonds being refunded, to the purchaser upon the deposit with the escrow agent on or before the redemption date of the money necessary for the redemption of the bonds being refunded.
(d)
(1) In order to facilitate the refunding of school bonds, any school district issuing refunding bonds may issue certificates of indebtedness maturing in one (1) to five (5) years, payable to bearer and negotiable, to cover the costs of refunding or interest due on outstanding bonds at the time they are exchanged for refunding bonds, or both.
(2) The certificates of indebtedness shall be paid out of the debt service fund of the school district from any surplus that remains in the debt service fund in any years after the payment of the full amount of bonds and interest due that year on the refunding issue.
(3) Any certificates of indebtedness issued in connection with an issue of refunding bonds shall be registered by the county treasurer.
(4) All certificates of indebtedness thus issued and registered shall not be invalidated because at the time of their issuance or at their maturity date there is not a surplus in the debt service fund available for their payment, but they shall continue as valid obligations of the school district until such a surplus in the debt service fund has accumulated for their payment.