Practices: Schools and Universities

The financial needs of public school systems and universities can involve the issuance of general obligation bonds (with resulting need for voter approval of tax levies), or a variety of special purpose capital financings. Financing instruments can be tax-exempt or taxable, and educational institution administrators and boards need experienced bond counsel to advise on the business as well as the legal issues involved in making the right choice.

Experienced Counsel

Ungaretti & Harris has served as bond counsel on billions of dollars in school financings during the past several years. Virtually every type of educational institution has turned to us for assistance: public school systems from cities and towns throughout the Midwest, including the Board of Education of the City of Chicago, state universities such as the University of Illinois, private schools such as Wheaton College, Wesleyan University and public agencies like the Illinois Finance Authority. Whether your financing is less than one million dollars or several hundreds of millions of dollars, you get experienced counsel in all types of financings, such as:

Unlimited and limited tax general obligation bonds.
Tax anticipation warrants.
Adjustable rate demand revenue bonds.
General obligation refunding bonds.

Complete Service

As bond counsel, we provide complete service on any transaction. Your authorization, sale and delivery documents are all carefully drafted, in full accord with applicable federal, state and securities laws. And you get full assistance when a bond issue requires voter approval, including preparation of the necessary referenda and advice on election and bond procedures.

Innovative Techniques

Pooling is one of the most innovative school financing techniques available, and we regularly act as tax counsel in bond transactions that pool the financings of educational institutions together with those of healthcare providers, and other 501(c)(3) exempt organizations. For example, Chicago’s two largest academic medical centers participated in just such a mutually beneficial arrangement with our help, in a pooling arrangement that also involved a major university and a world-renowned zoological society.

Well Positioned

School finance can involve major capital programs or general operating expenses, can involve significant political considerations, and can require sophisticated financial arrangements. Ungaretti & Harris is well positioned to help any educational system or institution, private or public, handle all the legal and practical elements necessary to meet financial needs.