DONALDSONVILLE – Bond rating company Standard & Poor’s announced it is raising the Ascension Parish school district’s rating one notch, to AA- from A+, allowing the district to save money by refinancing some of its general obligation bonds at lower interest rates.
The bond rating improvement is based on stable economic factors in the district and responsible fiscal action among the district’s board and executive managers, according to the Standard & Poor’s report.
Ascension Parish School’s Director of Business Services Betsy Landry said the district’s rating came under review by Standard & Poor’s when the school board opted to refinance $7.2 million worth of general obligation bonds that had been previously issued in 1997 and 2000.
She said the refinancing effort was intended to allow the school district to benefit from current changes in the market.
Landry said the gross present value of the savings anticipated from the refinancing with the improved rating is more than $670,000 – nearly $100,000 more than the refinancing savings predicted without the rating improvement.
Landry said the improved bond rating could also bring even more savings on any general obligation bonds issued by the district in the future.
“We are pleased that the responsible fiscal action of our board and our administration has been noticed by bond rating agents who work with thousands of school districts across the nation, and they have deemed our district worthy of a rating increase,” Superintendent Donald Songy said.
“The fact that we’ve gained a greater level of ‘trust’ in today’s market says a tremendous amount about what we’re doing in Ascension Parish,” Songy said.
Standard & Poor’s noted that the rating improvement reflects the district’s participation in the growing Baton Rouge economy and labor markets, its historically strong financial position and the district’s low overall debt burden.
“Standard & Poor’s deems Ascension Parish Parishwide School District’s management practices ‘good’ under its financial management assessment (FMA) methodology,” according to Standard & Poor’s written analysis, which was issued in May.
