A school district in the suburbs of Houston, Texas, issued $326 million in bonds to finance improvements to school buildings and buses.
The bonds, issued by Klein Independent School District, mature between 2024 and 2048, yielding between 2.65% and 4.15%. They received a rating of AAA from S&P Global Ratings.
“The district’s credit profile is characterized by its role as an expanding bedroom community, with full access to the broad and diverse Houston metropolitan statistical area economy, providing residents with extensive employment opportunities,” S&P Analyst Daniel Golliday said in a press release announcing the bonds’ rating.
The issuance comes amid rapid economic development in Houston and its surrounding suburbs. From 2010 to 2018, Houston’s population grew by more than 18%, making the city the fastest growing among the 10 most populous U.S. cities. Many residents of Klein, the unincorporated community where most of the school district is located, commute to work in Houston.
Among other projects, the bonds will finance the construction and renovation of school buildings, the purchase of new school buses that meet certain safety standards, and “the acquisition of personal computing devices for students, teachers, and staff,” according to the official statement accompanying the sale of the bonds.
Voters in Harris County authorized those projects in a referendum last year. Klein Independent School District covers 87.5 square miles northwest of Houston in Harris County. A small portion of Houston lies within the district.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as lead underwriter on the issuance.