ISD 279: Osseo School District
The Goal
Osseo Area Independent School District 279 is located in Hennepin County in the northwestern Minneapolis metro area in east central Minnesota. It operates 27 school buildings and provides pre-K through 12th grade education to over 20,000 students.
Osseo Schools are designated as Category 1a by the Department of Education for the Long-Term Facilities Maintenance (LTFM) program, meaning they are not limited to the standard $380 per pupil for project funding. The District identified significant capital and maintenance needs across all buildings and projected the need for an additional elementary school and an addition to the Senior High School to accommodate student population growth.
The Solution
The District engaged Ehlers’ School Finance Team for Debt Planning & Issuance. In developing the financing strategy, Ehlers carefully considered the timing of both the proposed projects and anticipated deferred maintenance needs, along with the overall scope of the initiative and the associated cash flow and issuance requirements. The firm evaluated the District’s ability to transition certain maintenance projects from a pay-as-you-go levy approach to bond financing, thereby creating additional tax capacity for a voter-approved issue. Based on this analysis, Ehlers advised splitting the large bond issuance into multiple issuances aligned with project timelines, a strategy designed to better manage cash flow, mitigate near-term tax impacts, and reduce the total interest cost over the life of the debt.
The Outcome
Voters approved school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $223,225,000 for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, including:
- Safety and security improvements at all schools
- Career and technical education space renovations at all high schools
- Science, technology, engineering, arts and math space renovations at all magnet schools
- Classroom renovations for special education, gifted/talented and multilingual learners at all schools
- New furniture and flexible learning spaces added throughout all schools
- Library media center renovations at all schools
- Outdoor classrooms added to all elementary and middle schools currently without
- Construction of a new elementary school, and an addition onto Maple Grove Senior High School
- The repurposing of an elementary building to a community education space