Youth and Education
Rating upgraded on Milwaukee Redevelopment Authority’s Neighborhood Schools Initiative revenue bonds
Moody’s Investors Service, a New York-based rating agency, has assigned an A1 rating and stable outlook to the Milwaukee Redevelopment Authority’s $45,835,000 Refunding Revenue Bonds Series 2007A (Milwaukee Public Schools--Neighborhood Schools Initiative.) Concurrently, Moody’s has upgraded to A1 from A2 the rating on $112 million of outstanding parity debt, including the current issue.
The Series 2007A bonds are associated with MPS’s Neighborhood Schools program, an initiative created to provide community-rich neighborhood schools that allow parents and the community to be more closely involved with children’s education. The program called for the construction of new schools and additions to existing buildings, with goals of providing quality facilities in all city neighborhoods and reducing intradistrict bussing of students.
The bonds are secured by a gross pledge of Intradistrict Transportation Aid revenues received by MPS from the state of Wisconsin. In 1999, legislation was passed that allows the use of a dedicated state aid revenue stream to support debt service on bonds issued for construction related to the program.
MPS is the largest school system in Wisconsin, with 217 schools, 6,055 teachers and 89,600 students. Moody’s began rating bonds in 1909, as part of its analysis of railroad investments, and introduced the rating symbols that have now become a world standard. It is one of the world’s foremost observers of the business and financial markets.
For more information contact Roseann St Aubin, director, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, at (414) 475-8237, or John Mehan, Robert W. Baird & Co., at (414) 765-3719 or jmehan@rwbaird.com.
Small High School Enrollment Fair includes MPS
More than two dozen public, private new small schools featured The third annual Milwaukee new small high school enrollment fair was be held on January 13, at the Shops of Grand Avenue, 275 West Wisconsin Avenue, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Prospective students and their families were able to gather information on more than two dozen new, small high schools at the fair. Public and private schools were represented and staff from MPS Student Services were present to enroll students in MPS new high schools or any other Milwaukee Public School.
“The fair provided the best opportunity for students, parents and teachers to find out about the options available in our new small high schools,” said Martin Lexmond, MPS Director of High School Redesign.
Milwaukee Public Schools and the Technical Assistance and Leadership Center (TALC) sponsor the fair. The fair is part of the Milwaukee High School Redesign Initiative, which is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
New high schools being offered by MPS in the 2007-2008 school year are Health Sciences Career Institute, the School of Urban Planning and Architecture, Small Learning Communities, and WORK Institute. MPS has opened twenty-three new small high schools since 2004. Some of the new schools are entirely original, and others are redesigned from larger, traditional high schools. In addition to the fair, the MPS three-choice enrollment period continues through January 26.
For more information contact Roseann St. Aubin, director, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, at (414) 475-8237.
