Tuesday, October 25, 2016

CPS plans to borrow as much as $840 million for school construction

The Chicago Tribune reports:
Chicago Public Schools officials are moving ahead with plans to add hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to the district's books, setting up a blitz of construction projects.

The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday is expected to approve borrowing as much as $840 million. But CPS won't tell the public what it plans to spend the money on until after the district goes to market for the new bonds.

In addition, the school board also is set to vote on issuing an additional $160 million in bonds to re-finance some of its old debt.

CPS' financial reputation has been a regular target for Wall Street analysts, a point reiterated by last month's decision by Moody's Investors Service to drop the district's bond rating further into junk status. That could cost CPS more money when it sells new bonds.
Less children in the system: more debt! Chicago public school math at its' finest.