Manatee County School District receives positive credit rating

After eight years of operating with a deficit, finances and credibility have taken a turn for the better for the Manatee County School District.

International credit rating agency Fitch Ratings raised its rating for the district from negative to positive, according to a Jan. 8 press release.

The company cited limiting spending, improving internal controls and more accurately monitoring district expenditures and strengthened balance sheet as "credit positives" and reasons for the change in rating.

The district's operating surplus of $21.9 million at the end of the 2014 fiscal year didn't hurt the district's rating, either.

Fitch Ratings also noted improvement and growth in the county's employment rate, taxable property values and population over the last year.

Changing its score was a lengthy process of tight spending monitoring, active state involvement, work with audit companies staff training and an "improved culture of accountability," the company stated in its release.

To Superintendent Rick Mills who spearheaded the campaign to balance the district's funds, the improved rating is yet another step in a positive direction.

"The positive rating from Fitch is a strong affirmation that we're on the right path financially as a school district," Mills said in a press release. "This good news is the direct result of hard work."

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].