Wisconsin School District: Franklin Public Schools
The Goal
Franklin Public School District is located approximately 10 miles southwest of Milwaukee. The District offers comprehensive educational programs for students in prekindergarten through the twelfth grade with fall 2025 enrollment of approximately 4,700 students.
The District identified capital needs throughout their school buildings, including repair and maintenance projects, safety and security enhancements, classroom additions and remodels and improvements to many education spaces. Overall costs and project timing created the need for a strategic plan to manage the timing of bond issuances and maximize the return on investments, while limiting the overall interest paid.
The Solution
The District engaged Ehlers’ School Finance Team for Debt Planning & Issuance. Prior to the election, Ehlers worked with the district on managing property taxes by defeasing (prepaying principal on) existing debt. Over the course of the last decade, the District has defeased its debt multiple times. These defeasance payments saved the district over $4 million in interest payments over the last 2 years. In addition to saving interest payments, defeasing debt helped Franklin Public Schools maintain a strong bond rating. In developing the strategic financing plan for the new debt, Ehlers considered the project’s long timeline, beginning with a successful election in November 2024 and extending through construction completion in October 2028. Careful attention was given to the timing of bond issuances to minimize overall interest costs while maximizing investment returns in the construction account. The strategy also accounted for compliance with IRS arbitrage rules and applicable spending exceptions. In addition, the District carefully considered the tax impact on property owners and the community support and prioritization of the various projects.
The Outcome
Voters approved $145,000,000 for the public purpose of paying the cost of a school facility improvement project. Ehlers invested the proceeds to maximize returns, always keeping in focus the arbitrage rules and when needed, making strategic adjustments to investment vehicles that were not subject to the IRS rules.