School ages girl walking into school building

Your Partner for Wisconsin School Financing

Supporting Wisconsin School Districts

Our public finance team is comprised of a robust group of professionals offering debt management strategies and execution to meet your financial needs. Our collaborative approach integrates our public finance experience with quantitative analysis and school business support. We provide tailored services and cost-effective tools to meet the diverse financial needs of Wisconsin school districts. The depth of our team allows us to provide clients with long term solutions built to last.

Public Finance

Our commitment to K–12 and independent school districts is backed by our extensive experience and capabilities. With a focus on long-term partnerships rather than short-term fixes, Baird addresses your district’s unique needs through such financing solutions as debt management, capital finance planning, board and community financing presentations, bond election assistance, credit rating assistance, alternative structuring solutions, private placements, lease purchase financings, public debt issuance and monitoring, and continuing disclosure assistance.

School Business Solutions

Focused on meeting the unique demands of School Administrators across the State, Baird's School Business Solutions (“SBS") team provides a suite of products and services to support the financial needs and goals of Wisconsin school districts.

Product & Service Offerings

Debt Management and Referendum Planning
- Debt structuring, issuance, and management
- Credit rating assistance, and strategy development
- Lease exploration and financing
- Monitoring and refinancing outstanding debt
- A comprehensive fixed income platform providing advisory, investment banking and underwriting services
- A collaborative relationship with an in-state team of experts who understands your needs
- Real-time market information from our nationally recognized underwriting desk
- A large, in-house distribution network that helps keep borrowing costs down
- Proven experience with sophisticated and complex school financing projects in Wisconsin and nationwide
- Financial Management and Budgeting tools that assist and streamline planning

Budget Forecast Model
- Provides estimates early in the budget process that allows districts to model multiple “what-if” scenarios
- Helps plan for short and long-term financial needs while providing communication tools along the way
- Allows districts to be agile with budget decision making
- One-on-one support from experienced business officials and school finance experts
- Networking opportunities with other superintendents and business officials
- Early planning estimates for state figures as well as “just in time” information to aid in budget analysis
- District-specific analysis, with teaching and learning opportunities year-round

Video Library
- A cost-effective, interactive educational suite catered to various levels of school finance expertise, from board member to school business professional
- Resources, especially for training, continuing education, and talent development with step-by step walkthroughs
- Flexibility, providing users instant access to relevant school finance topics anytime, anywhere
- Toolkits for any board, community, lunch-and-learn or team meeting
- Over 100 school finance videos with separate modules geared toward specific audiences
- Ability to deep dive into numerous essential details for anyone who needs and wants to know more

School Analytics
- Annual reporting – Historical data, summarized succinctly and accurately for annual reports
- Board and community presentations – Offers high-level information, perfect for board or community meetings
- Referendum materials – Visuals to enhance your district’s messaging and comparables to assist with benchmarking
- Additional features – Key financial information, staffing comparables, school-level summary, report card influencers and more
- Add-on available – Enrollment & open enrollment detail, financial reporting and analysis, grab-and-go options for board, community and others

Training/Consulting
- Business office consulting, training and mentoring
- Review of current financial records
- Multi-year budget planning and analysis
- Accounting and audit preparation
- Fulfilling annual meeting requirements
- Cash reconciliation and DPI reporting
- Business office efficiencies and procedural recommendations
- Board and community presentations

Wisconsin School Team

With dedicated experts in the areas of banking, analytics, official statement preparation and execution, and the municipal market, we are ready to deploy our services to provide support, guidance and execution resulting in optimal results for school districts across the State. Our team is committed to being responsive and accessible for questions, in-person meetings with district administration and committee meetings.