During its Dec. 13 meeting, the SISD board of trustees unanimously voted to allow for a maximum of $300 million in bonds to be sold at a maximum total interest rate of 5.5% and a maximum final maturity of 40 years. However, SISD’s financial advisors, Post Oak Municipal Advisors, expect to sell the bonds at 4.3% interest and with a maturity of 30 years, according to Francine Stefan, who serves as executive vice president of Post Oak Municipal Advisors.
“We need to get this first sale of bonds completed,” Stefan said during a Dec. 6 SISD board meeting. “The next key step on the timeline is the bond pricing, and that is where the underwriters go into the market with the bonds, get commitments from investors to buy SISD bonds, and we'd lock in the interest rate that SISD will pay for those bonds.”
Stefan said Post Oak Municipal Advisors hopes to sell the bonds in mid-to-late January so that SISD will receive funding from the sale in mid-to-late February.
SISD’s $850 million bond package was approved by voters Nov. 10 with 60.31%, 51.17% and 58.47% of total votes cast in support of propositions A, B and C, respectively. Proposition A will allocate $681 million to fund campus improvements, Proposition B will slate $141 million in funding for a new academic and arts center, and Proposition C will fund $28 million in districtwide technology upgrades.
A 50-member bond steering committee made up of SISD trustees, community members, district leaders, parents and students met six times over the summer to identify specific projects and create the bond proposal. SISD trustees called the bond election in an unanimous vote during their Aug. 9 meeting.
To read more about SISD's 2022 bond, click here.
