West Aurora School District 129 is pleased to announce that the financial services firm, Moody’s Investor Service, has upgraded the district’s A1 (upper medium grade) bond rating to Aa3 (high grade). This is the fourth-highest rating in Moody's scale, meaning that the school district’s debt is judged to be of high quality and is subject to very low credit risk.

Beginning with the tenure of the current district senior leadership team, West Aurora School District’s Board of Education has approved balanced budgets and continued to add to district fund balances. The board demonstrated their focus on fiscal responsibility and the need to grow fund balances by adopting policies with aggressive fund balance targets which have been surpassed. The district has improved their fund balances from a low point of 26 days in 2013, to a projected 130 days plus at the end of the 2020 fiscal year.

“This improvement is the product of years of work across the district,'' stated Assistant Superintendent of Operations, Mrs. Angela Smith. “From the trust the community put in us to make investments that would reduce operating costs long-term, to the bargaining units who understood the importance of long term sustainability in contracts. From administrators who worked to ensure that department and building costs were appropriate and wise investments to support student success, to a school board who understood the importance of balanced budgets and increasing fund balances. This was truly a community effort.”

The fact that this upgrade would come during an economic downturn is not typical for public entities. “Even more remarkable is that the upgrade was achieved during a global pandemic at a time when the entire public finance sector is on credit watch negative. In fact, School District 129 was the first Illinois client of PMA Financial to be upgraded in 2020,” said Bob Lewis, Senior Vice President and Managing Director for PMA.

“While we do not anticipate needing to borrow money anytime soon, this improved bond rating would result in lower interest costs should the need arise,” stated Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Jeff Craig. “It is an outward sign to the public of our strong and improved financial position and a demonstrated practice of being fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars. When it is coupled with our increased financial profile score from the state last year, it is something we can all be proud of.”

Click here to view a press release from Moody’s Investor Service regarding West Aurora School District’s upgraded bond rating.