Superintendent reports annexation request and optimistic S&P rating call

Superintendent Dr. Tingley told the Lincoln Way Board on April 17 that the district has received an annexation request from a homeowner along the district's southern border who is asking to be detached from an adjacent district and annexed into Lincoln Way. The superintendent said the request will go to the Regional Office of Education and noted that detached districts have in past contested annexations in court. "It would not be my recommendation to file any sort of suit whatsoever; I think we just kind of let this play out," Dr. Tingley said, noting that if the individual home is approved it could prompt several nearby houses to seek the same change. Dr. Tingley also reported that district officials, including Bob Lewis and Mike Kelly from the district's financial advisers, participated in a rating call with Standard & Poor's the prior day. He said staff were "cautiously optimistic" that the district would receive a small rating bump, which could improve pricing on the planned bond issuance; he expected the S&P report to be released the following Tuesday. The superintendent said the district has not seen a formal annexation request in about 13 years and that the likely practical effect — if approved — would be a small student gain and a negligible tax impact at district scale.