Texas school districts get bond proceeds working

DALLAS – The Lewisville, Texas, Independent School District saw strong demand for early maturities of its $114.9 million bond sale, officials said.

Maturities of 2038 with 4% coupons drew a yield of 3.33%, according to Municipal Market Data. Carrying underlying ratings of AA-plus from S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, the bonds have triple-A ratings thanks to a guarantee from the Texas Permanent School Fund.

Rendering shows bond-funded work at Flower Mound High School in Lewisville Independent School District north of Dallas.

JPMorgan Securities was book-runner on the deal with co-managers Citi and Raymond James and Associates.

John Martin, managing director at Hilltop Securities, is the district’s financial advisor.

“The deal was very well received,” Martin said. “The 2019 through 2027 maturities were oversubscribed and received nice bumps from the underwriters. A few other adjustments were made in a few maturities where business was slow. The deal had a balance of around $16.5 million at the end of the order period, which were taken down.”

The Lewisville ISD issue came the same day that another large Dallas-area school district, Mesquite ISD, priced $118.7 million of unlimited tax school building bonds. That deal through book runner Citi also carried the PSF guarantee with underlying ratings of AA from S&P and AA-plus from Fitch.

Mesquite’s 5% coupons maturing in 2048 earned a yield of 3.16%.

Mesquite ISD voters approved $325 million of bonds for the southeast Dallas County district on May 5.

“The district received a strong 72% voter support for its May 2018 bond program,” Fitch noted. “Fitch anticipates the district's debt burden will rise but remain a moderate burden on recourses throughout the issuance of the authorization.”

Lewisville ISD voters last November approved a record $737 million bond package to keep up with growth. Lewisville ISD is northwest of Dallas. Voters in neighboring Denton ISD approved a record $750 million of bonds May 5.

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