...CHICAGO (Standard & Poor's) April 25, 2016--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term rating to '##+' from '###-' on Advanced Tech Academy (ATA), Mich.'s series 2008 revenue bonds. The outlook is stable. "The downgrade reflects our view of ATA's consistently weak liquidity position and reliance on the short-term borrowing of state aid anticipation notes, flat enrollment despite expectations of enrollment growth in fall 2015 leading to a decline in per pupil funding, and limited demand flexibility," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Gauri Gupta. The stable outlook reflects our view that during the one-year outlook period, ATA will maintain stable to growing enrollment, produce positive operations on a full-accrual basis, and maintain liquidity and maximum annual debt service coverage at or near current levels. We expect that ATA will continue to rely on state anticipation notes for operations in the near term. Initially chartered in 1999 by Lake Superior State University,...
