Saturday, March 15, 2014

Moody's cuts ratings for Chicago public schools, park district

Crain's Chicago Business reports:
Credit ratings for Chicago's public schools and parks took a hit late yesterday, dragged down by the city's rating drop earlier this month.

Given their close ties to the city of Chicago and a tax base that's large but stretched thin by the overlapping debt and pension obligations of the city and other governmental entities, Moody's Investors Service said its outlook remains negative for both the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Park District.

The Wall Street credit rating agency reduced the Chicago Board of Education one notch to Baa1 from A3, the same downgrade the city got March 4. The rating applies to $6.3 billion in outstanding school-related general obligation debt.
You can count on more downgrades by the end of the the decade.