Buck Financial Blog

In November 2019, the Charter School for Educational Excellence (CSEE) in Yonkers, New York, closed its $36.8 million bond issue of tax-exempt and taxable bonds issued through the Yonkers EDC.  The proceeds will be used to fund the construction of a high school in Yonkers, as CSEE expands from its traditional K-8 operation into a K-12 school due to local demand.  This demand stems from the fact that CSEE significantly out-performs all other educational options in their community by quite a lot.

CSEE opened its doors in 2005 and finished 2019 with about 750 K-8 students residing in Westchester and Bronx Counties.  It has been designated a Reward School by the State Education Department for four years running.  After receiving its charter extension in January 2018, the Board of Regents approved CSEE for an expansion into grades 9-12 and designated it as a Regional K-12 School, which allows students from anywhere in the State to enroll.   CSEE began operating the high school in Fall 2019 in a temporary location, and when the high school construction is complete in 2021, it will operate grades 9-11 in the new facility.  Ultimate about 1,300 students will be served in grades K-12.

Over 80% of CSEE’s students are economically disadvantaged and available for FRL.  Over 7% of its students have some form of learning disability.  Yet, CSEE outperforms the local district, Westchester County schools, and the average for City and State charter schools and district schools.  Its academic performance is the main reason why CSEE was approached to expand its grade offerings into the high school grades.  The district schools are also known to be overcrowded, so this expansion also helps alleviate that to some degree, but the main driver is CSEE’s academic performance.

The bonds were issued on parity with CSEE’s outstanding 2010 bonds.  The non-rated  offering was over-subscribed significantly, and ultimately the yield-to-call on the 35-year final maturity was 3.84%.  That is an amazing yield, and a testament to the quality of the school’s financial and educational operations.  Buck Financial served as financial advisor, Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. as underwriter, Harris Beach PLLC as bond counsel, and Hodgson Russ LLP as underwriter’s counsel.  School House Project is serving as owner’s rep to CSEE for the project.

Congratulations to CSEE, its Board and staff, and most of all to the families its continues to serve so well.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/eric-holder-takes-virginia-11573167564

Attached is a link to a WSJ opinion piece from Kimberley A. Strassel which outlines the concerted effort the Democratic Party is making to be able to redistrict currently “Red” states to a more favorable environment to get Democrats elected.  They are using the courts to fight the Republican Party where that party is strong, possibly due to its own gerrymandering efforts, but not necessarily.

Both of these parties will, where they can, undertake efforts to make political races less competitive, so this isn’t just bashing the Democratic Party.  This political duopoly will stop at nothing to keep themselves as the only two options most Americans will consider.  They purposely divide us to serve their own ends: if you hate the other guy, you are more likely to vote for one of these parties.  This is why everyone should be concerned, and neither of these parties is pure!

But, if you are a charter supporter, this effort to turn what are currently Red states, and thus generally favorable towards public educational choice, to purple or Blue states should concern you given the position the Democratic Party has taken to favor public sector teachers’ unions (and their political contributions) over low income and minority families who benefit from charter schools. The unions had a tough year two years ago, losing the Janus vs AFSME Supreme Court case, which meant that they could not levy dues on members for political activities unless the member allows that.  (Having said that, unions and the Democratic Party in many states are making it very, very tough for members to “opt out” of those political contributions.)  But, what unions can levy for are dues for collective bargaining purposes.  This helps explain why you have seen so many strikes over the past year: Los Angeles, Chicago, Oklahoma, and Denver.  Unions are beefing up their collective bargaining positions to be able to continue to levy the dues they depend on so they can fuel their political contributions.

And, Democratic politicians have expressed a willingness to take those contributions and to do the unions’ bidding, at the expense of low income and minority students.  That “bidding” includes legislation to thwart the growth of charter schools, which are typically non-union, and which continued to operate while the above districts faced strikes.  Witness the positions taken by many of the major Democratic presidential candidates.  Unions are using their political puppets to suppress competition from charter schools because they have proven they cannot compete in the classroom.

For charters and their supporters, the prospect of having more anti-charter state legislators is something to be very concerned about.  This fight is only just beginning.