Stephens Co. School System Could See Drop in Credit Rating

Financial problems that turned up earlier this year in the Stephens County school system continue to have repercussions.

Last week, Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said that he had talked with Standard and Poor’s Rating Service about the school system’s credit rating.

Currently, Dorsey said the rating is an A-.

He said, however, that the rating service is meeting again soon and could drop the school system’s credit rating.

“They flagged us and received our Fiscal Year 2013 audit and were getting ready to put extreme downward pressure on our rating,” said Dorsey.

Dorsey said a drop in the school system’s credit rating has an effect on bond rates for when the school system goes to borrow money, like higher interest rates.

He says he is not certain at this point of how wide ranging that impact would be.

Dorsey also said he is hopeful that any drop could be kept to a minimum after explaining the school system’s current financial plan to the agency.

“We were able to talk to them about the plan the Board had implemented and that we were continuing to address our budgets and they were very impressed with that part the Board had already acted on,” said Dorsey. “They felt certain we would still see some downward pressure, but they would continue to monitor to see that we were continuing to get back to a healthy fund balance.”

Standard and Poor’s is an American financial services company that issues credit ratings for the debt of public governments, as well as public and private companies.

It is considered one of the three main credit rating agencies in the country.