The Chattooga County School System received an AA+ rating from S&P on Friday of last week.   While a high quality rating, it falls below the best rating of AAA.

Still, the rating is considered good, and comes with a very low credit risk.  The AA+ rating is considered one of the rankings for investment-grade debt. The rating signifies that the issuer is financially sound and has adequate revenues and cash reserves to pay its debts. The risk of default for investors or policyholders is low on an AA+ rating from S&P.

Chattooga County voters approved the bond sale to raise taxes to pay for the bond and provide the funds to build the new school at Menlo Elementary.  The next step in the process was for a financial institution to sell bonds – which is like an “IOU”, and then gives that money to the school district to do the project approved by the voters. Incoming tax money then pays back the bond and the interest over several years to the bondholders.