Decision: the bond adviser's new contract (Jan. 22, 2026)

Key facts

• Date: Jan. 22, 2026, on the consent agenda (passed in one vote with other items).¹
• Vote: 6–0, one absent.¹
• What it did: renewed PFM Financial Advisors and added Nickel Hayden Advisors as co-adviser.¹²
• Last time other firms could compete: 2015, through a request for proposals.²
• How the adviser is paid: a fee per loan sale, bigger for bigger sales, and only if the sale closes.³

In short

In Jan. 2026, the board renewed its bond adviser and added a second one.¹² It passed in one vote with other items, 6–0.¹ Other firms last competed for the job in 2015.² The adviser earns more when the district borrows more.³

Related: bond adviser · bond team · consent votes

Layer 1: What was decided

The bond adviser helps plan every school loan. In January 2026, the board approved a new adviser contract. It kept the same firm and added a second one. It was voted on as part of the consent list, with no separate discussion vote.¹

Layer 2: What changed in the pay

• 2020 contract: $30,000 per sale plus a fee per $1,000 borrowed, with a cap of $225,000 per sale.⁴
• 2026 contract: $25,000 per sale plus $0.65–$1.00 per $1,000 borrowed, 25% more for refinancing, and no cap stated. It is paid only if the sale closes, from transaction costs or debt service funds.³
• So the adviser earns more when the district borrows more.

How the trustees voted (the whole consent list):¹

Trustee	Vote
Trish Bode	For
Sade Fashokun	For
Paul Gauthier	Absent
Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia	For
Laura Marques	For
Nekosi Nelson	For
Anna Smith	For

Layer 3: Background

• The firm first won the job through a 2015 request for proposals. In 2020, its contract was made open-ended, with no end date, also on consent. That item said bidding is “not a legal requirement.”²
• The district’s check list shows only $36,500 paid to PFM firms from 2020-21 to 2025-26. The contract pays sale fees from transaction costs when a sale closes.⁵³

The other side

• A second adviser can give the board another view on deals.
• What the law requires. School purchasing rules do not cover professional services such as “fiscal agent” work, and we found no law that sets how often an adviser job must be reopened.⁶

Questions to ask

• Where will the district post the sale fees paid to each adviser?
• Why did the board add a co-adviser, and how do the two split the work and the fee?

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: We removed a line our sources do not support and changed wording so it says no more than our sources show.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.

What you can do or watch next

• Watch for the adviser’s fees in each new bond sale (see bond adviser).
• You can ask the board to set an end date or reopen the contract to other firms during public comment.

What we don’t know yet

• total sale fees paid to each adviser since 2020.
• why a co-adviser was added, and how the two split the work and the fee.

Footnotes

1. BoardBook agenda, Jan. 22, 2026, consent item 5.G (packet p.104); minutes roll call for the consent agenda. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Board packets Mar. 26, 2020, p.108 and Jan. 22, 2026, p.104. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. Board packet Jan. 22, 2026, p.104 and contract Exhibit B. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Board packet Mar. 26, 2020, p.108. ↩

5. Leander ISD check register, fiscal 2020-21 to 2025-26: PFM Asset Management $31,500; PFM Financial Advisors $5,000. ↩

6. Texas Education Code §44.031(a) and (f) (school purchasing rules do not apply to professional services, “including services of an architect, attorney, certified public accountant, engineer, or fiscal agent”); Government Code §2254.002–.003 (accountants, architects, engineers, surveyors and appraisers must be picked on qualifications, not price; financial advisers and bond lawyers are not on that list). ↩