New York, February 25, 2021 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned an A1 underlying and an A1 enhanced rating to Boyle County School District, KY's $1.4 million School Building Refunding Revenue Bonds, Series of 2021, issued through the Boyle County School District Finance Corporation, KY. Concurrently, Moody's has affirmed the district's Aa3 issuer and outstanding underlying A1 lease revenue bond ratings. The issuer rating reflects the district's ability to repay debt and debt-like obligations without consideration of any pledge, security, or structural features.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The Aa3 issuer rating incorporates the district's growing local economy which benefits from its location near Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, a regional employment center, slightly below average resident income levels, and healthy reserve and liquidity positions supported by a history of conservative budgeting. The Aa3 rating further incorporates the district's manageable debt and pension liabilities and low fixed costs.
The A1 lease revenue rating is one notch below the issuer rating, reflecting the risk of non-appropriation of annual rental payments for debt service on the lease revenue bonds and the essential nature of the leased assets secured by a statutory mortgage lien.
The A1 enhanced rating is based on the Kentucky School District Enhancement Program (KSDE) which carries an A1 rating with a stable outlook. The program rating is available to all Kentucky school districts and the rating and outlook shadows the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which is currently rated Aa3 with a stable outlook.
The program is supported by the Kentucky Department of Education's (KY DOE) commitment to forward any funds available for intercept directly to the district's paying agent in the event of a pending debt service deficiency. The mechanics of the intercept program require lease rental payments to be made directly to the district's paying agent at least 10 days prior to a debt service due date. The paying agent must notify the KY DOE if payment of principal or interest has not been received three days prior to the date on which the debt service payment is due.
State oversight of the program is strong as school district operating budgets, long-term facilities plans, and debt issuances must be reviewed and approved by the KY DOE. The state's oversight is further reflected in the KY DOE's ability to access school district financials on a real time basis and a record of state intervention in underperforming schools.
RATING OUTLOOK
Outlooks are usually not assigned to local government issuers with this amount of debt.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OF THE RATINGS
- Improvement in resident income levels
- Enrollment growth
- Material reduction in debt burden
- Significant growth of reserves and liquidity
- Upgrade of the Commonwealth of Kentucky (enhanced rating only)
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO A DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
- Reduction in operating flexibility and reserve levels
- Substantial increase in debt burden
- Material decline in enrollment and wealth and income levels
- Downgrade of the Commonwealth of Kentucky (enhanced rating only)
LEGAL SECURITY
The bonds are secured by annual lease rental payments from the school district, which are subject to annual appropriation. Additional bondholder security is derived from a statutory mortgage lien on the financed projects.
The mechanics of the state enhancement program direct the paying agent to notify the KY DOE if payment of principal or interest has not been received three days prior to the date on which the debt service payment is due. Upon notification by the paying agent, the KY DOE must forward, from available funds, the amount due to the paying agent.
USE OF PROCEEDS
Proceeds from the 2021 bonds will be used to refund the district's outstanding School Building Revenue Bonds, Series of 2011, for savings with no extension of maturity.
PROFILE
Boyle County School District is located in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky, approximately 43 miles from the City of Lexington, KY (Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, KY, Aa2 stable). The district is coterminous with Boyle County (Aa3), except for the City of Danville, and has an estimated enrollment of 2,392, (average daily attendance for the 2019-20 school year). The board consists of five elected members, representing individual election districts, that serve staggered four-year terms. The Boyle County School District Finance Corporation is a non-profit corporation created by the district pursuant to Kentucky Revised Statute 162.385 to act as a municipal corporation and agency and instrumentality of the board.
METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in the underlying ratings was US K-12 Public School Districts Methodology published in January 2021 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBM_1202421. The principal methodology used in the enhanced rating was State Aid Intercept Programs and Financings published in December 2017 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBM_1067422. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of these methodologies.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the credit rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating review.
Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1243406.
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Nisha Rajan
Lead Analyst
Regional PFG Northeast
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Valentina Gomez
Additional Contact
Regional PFG Northeast
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