Transaction Details

Uplift Education

Municipal

Lead Bookrunner

Founded in 1996, Uplift Education (“Uplift”) is a high-performing charter school network operating 45 schools across 20 campuses in the Greater Dallas/Fort Worth area under a single charter with an authorized enrollment cap of 30,000 students.

Uplift primarily serves economically disadvantaged communities, with approximately 80% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. The network has grown from 218 students in 1997 to 23,385 as of October 2024, with a waitlist of 4,964 students for the 2024–25 school year. Uplift maintains a strong college preparatory focus, featuring the International Baccalaureate framework and its internally developed “Road to College and Career” program. In 2024, all eligible Uplift high schools were ranked in the top 27% nationally by U.S. News & World Report.

To support future growth and improvements, Uplift is conducting a comprehensive facilities audit to identify and prioritize capital needs over the next five years. The results will be presented to the board in summer 2025 and will guide use of funds. Proceeds from this financing were also used to refund outstanding Series 2015A bonds and cover issuance costs.

Baird’s National Charter School Finance team served as sole managing underwriter on the $22,025,000 PSF-guarantee financing for Uplift. Despite market uncertainty, strong investor demand was driven by Uplift’s academic performance, substantial waitlist, and established track record. On pricing day, favorable market news helped reinforce positive momentum, allowing Baird’s sales force to build a strong order book and successfully complete the offering. We executed an aggressive re-pricing of the bonds in response to favorable market conditions, successfully achieving the lowest spread to MMD for any PSF-backed charter financing.

On May 6, we priced $37,735,000 PSF-guaranteed bonds (Baa2/BBB-), which were out of the money just two weeks prior. This was a refunding of the Series 2015A bonds. The bonds priced through other high-grade Texas names that struggled during the same week, demonstrating both the strength of the credit and a well-timed execution in a tightening market.