The Westlake City Schools' bond rating was upwardly shifted from Aa2 to Aa1 by Moody’s Investor Service. The upward change places the district one notch away from the highest quality Aaa Moody’s rating. 

Westlake Schools is now one of only 23 Ohio local school districts rated in the Aa1 or Aaa rating categories, placing Westlake in the top 4% of all Ohio schools.

The Aa1 rating highlights the district’s credit quality versus other debt securities, which should mean lower interest costs on future district borrowing – including the recent bond issue – and savings of additional taxpayer dollars.

This shift is part of a large recalibration by Moody’s to bring municipal issuers in line with other global issuers. The new ratings are intended to indicate average levels of credit quality consistently across different sectors and geographies.

According to a Moody’s report on the change, “A key driver for the recalibration is the market’s increasing desire for rating comparability between municipal and non-municipal sectors, given the growing number of cross-over investors active in both tax-exempt and taxable markets."

Kim Bonvissuto is the Communications Coordinator for Westlake City Schools.