In May 2007, the Northside community approved a $692.67 million bond proposal to build 12 new schools and make additions and improvements to existing schools. The District has $1.4 billion in general obligations bonds outstanding. During the year, the District remarketed a portion of its variable rate bonds and issued $1,239,670,000 of general obligations bonds for new capital projects. Because the District budgets for some of its variable rate debt at 5.25%, it was able to retire $1.6 million of the variable rate bonds. More detailed information about the District's debt is presented in Note #7 to the Financial Statements in the comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
Long-term bonds are rated "AAA" by Moody's Investors Service. ("Moody's"), Standard and Poor's ("S&P"), and Fitch Investors Service ("Fitch") by virtue of the guarantee of the Permanent School Fund of the State of Texas. Moody's Investors Service recently raised the District's underlying long-term credit rating from Aa3 to Aa2. This marks the second time in recent years that a major rating agency has increased the District's bond rating. In June 2006, Standard & Poor's upgraded the District's underlying long-term bond rating from A+ to AA-. The underlying long-term credit rating of the District's debt has been maintained at 'AA-' by Fitch. Its short-term credit has been rated "Aa3" by Moody's, "A+" by S&P and "AA-" Fitch.
