School bonds

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she will keep fighting to reshape the legislation the state Senate approved this week to transition to a fully elected school board.

Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corp. is marketing the $127 million issuance as social bonds.

The state has allocated $1.3 billion over three years to repair and replace 163 buildings, General Treasurer Seth Magaziner reported.

Change is afoot for CPS as its leader Janice Jackson is leaving and legislation stripping Chicago's mayor of full power to appoint CPS board members gains legislative momentum.

More Illinois districts were lifted into the top fiscal category last year even as they navigated the start of COVID-19 pandemic

The $8.5 billion on the ballots included $6.5 billion for schools, $1.6 billion for cities, $319 million for counties and $139 million for community colleges.

A year after the traditional May bond elections were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, Texans will consider bonds for local issuers, mostly schools.

S&P raised CPS' junk rating by one notch, saying federal funds will boost an "already positive financial trajectory."

The pandemic has caused some special circumstances for state and local governments in juggling their finances. Jeffrey Previdi, the vice-chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board who spent more than 20 years of his career at S&P Global Ratings, talks about what his regulatory organization has done to assist them. Previdi also talked about how GASB influences how state and local governments spend taxpayer money on such things as schools, firehouses, water treatment plants, and other infrastructure. Brian Tumulty hosts. (25 minutes)

The California School Finance Authority has received 148 applications from districts and charter schools seeking to borrow almost $1.4 billion.

Our municipal impact strategy will continue to refrain from investing in school districts that are not actively, urgently and aggressively acting to identify and thwart violence against students.

The rating agency placed 637 of the roughly 3,400 school districts it rates on review for upgrade or downgrade, and upgraded 85.

The negative outlook reflects the challenge of rebalancing the district’s budget in the face of pandemic-related reopening costs.

After a dramatic year of pandemic and a record bond proposal, Dallas ISD is taking bids on $274 million of bonds to upgrade schools.

The deal is rated BBB-plus by Fitch Ratings, Baa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and BBB by S&P Global Ratings.

Lincoln Way school district in suburban Chicago moved further back up the investment grade ladder with a Moody's Investors Service upgrade.

Public finance groups are optimistic 2021 will be a breakthrough year for federal tax law changes to help spur the use of tax-advantaged bonds.

The state's voters weighed in on a shrunken slate of school bond measures, a split-roll property tax, and a bond measure to fund stem cell research.

Oregon-based Wonderful Foundations purchases charter school buildings to lease them back to schools at a stable rent.

The pandemic's effect on the economy and learning, along with what may be growing voter antipathy, are cited for the dearth of November bond measures.