Schools Face Big Squeeze

The steep drop in home valuations in Arizona may limit the ability of the ­Maricopa County Unified School ­District No. 60 to sell $71.5 million of bonds remaining from the $120 million authorized by voters in 2006.

State law caps a school district’s outstanding debt at no more than 10% of its assessed valuation. The Higley school district has slightly more than $70 million of capital bonded debt, which exceeds the limit for the district with $707 million of assessed valuation.

The district must sell the remaining bonds before the authorization expires in November 2012, but cannot exceed the state-mandated debt capacity. Its last bond sale was for $4.5 million in 2009. The debt is rated A2 by Moody’s ­Investors Service.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM BOND BUYER