The board of trustees’ Dec. 19 vote to sell comes in ahead of the district’s original schedule for spending its bond funds, but officials from Estrada Hinojosa—PfISD’s financial advisers for the bond funds—said market dynamics partially drove the acceleration.
“We’re still at an all-time low in interest rates,” said Rudy Mejia, executive vice president of Estrada Hinojosa. “The cost of carrying the bonds in your savings account is very minimal compared to years in the past.”
Mejia told the board that selling the bonds with these historically low interest rates, combined with the district’s cash defeasance, are estimated to save the district approximately $15 million over time.
The district’s rapid pace of student growth additionally accelerated the need to build facilities, according to district officials.
PfISD broke ground on its 22nd elementary school and seventh middle school campuses Dec. 16, the first two schools to be built with the district’s 2018 bond funds. At the groundbreaking, Superintendent Doug Killian said PfISD would begin work on its 23rd elementary school campus in spring 2020.
In late August, trustees voted to order and install six portable classroom buildings at Mott Elementary in eastern Pflugerville after the number of students who showed up on the first week of classes exceeded the district’s projections.
PfISD sold the first $250 million of its 2018 bond funds in April to fund design and construction of the upcoming middle school and elementary school. Those funds also paid for the district’s inaugural bus fleet for its own transportation department.
