Transaction Details

Bellflower Unified School District

Municipal

Lead Bookrunner

Leveraging Market Conditions for a Strong Bond Sale

Background
Bellflower Unified School District (the District), located in southeast Los Angeles County, serves students across the communities of Bellflower, Cerritos, Lakewood, and surrounding areas. The District provides a full range of TK–12 educational programming supported by its network of elementary, middle, and high schools, adult education, and specialized instructional programs.

On November 25, 2025, Baird’s California K-12 Public Finance group served as sole managing underwriter for the District’s $33,075,000 2025 General Obligation Refunding Bonds, rated Aa3, delivering a highly successful execution amid a week of light California school district issuance.

Opportunity
The District entered the market with an amortization schedule designed to maximize investor engagement, featuring $1–$4 million bond blocks from 2028 to 2041 with additional smaller maturities in 2026 and 2027. The goal was to efficiently access capital while achieving strong market reception and competitive pricing across the curve.

With several other California school district financings electing to postpone their pricing to the following week, Bellflower Unified School District became the only California school district issue in the market. This created a unique window to draw concentrated investor attention at a time when buyers had limited high-grade California paper available.

Solution & Implementation
Baird positioned the District’s $33,075,000 Aa3-rated General Obligation Bonds to take advantage of a uniquely favorable market window. With several other California school district transactions choosing to postpone their sales, Bellflower USD became the only California school issuer in the market that week, drawing concentrated attention from active buyers. Early in the day, Baird’s desk successfully moved bonds from syndicate positions, signaling strong investor engagement and providing confidence that buyers were active despite recent market uncertainty.

The District’s structure, which featured $1–$4 million bond blocks from 2028 to 2041, with smaller maturities in 2026 and 2027, proved attractive to investors across the curve. Orders built quickly, and by the close of the order period, the book reflected participation from a number of California institutional buyers. Nearly all maturities were oversubscribed 3-10x, with only the 2026 maturity at approximately 1.5x. This broad and deep demand allowed Baird to tighten spreads during repricing, pushing yields through recent comparable Aa3 California school transactions and delivering highly favorable pricing for the District.

The result was a disciplined, strategically timed execution supported by robust investor interest, a well-designed structure, and a clear market advantage created by the absence of competing California deals.

Results & Impact
The District achieved a highly successful sale that exceeded expectations and capitalized on favorable market dynamics. Strong investor participation across the curve created the foundation for aggressive repricing improvements, allowing the bonds to price through comparable Aa3-rated California school district issues. The depth of the order book validated both the structure and the timing of the transaction, demonstrating the District’s strong market presence and Baird’s ability to position the credit competitively. The outcome supports the District’s long-term capital goals while securing efficient cost of capital for its community, delivering $3.4 million in gross savings and more than $2.65 million in net present value (NPV) savings or 7.10% NPV, net of financing costs, surpassing industry standards and District expectations.