A Kenton-resident recurring-services vendor — food, transport, IT, janitorial, mechanical service, pest, athletic-facility maintenance — wins across the three active capital-cycle districts under simultaneous KSBA portal transparency.

Three simultaneous capital cycles run the demand side. KCPS — about 14,000 students — approved $60 million in general-obligation bonds on May 5, 2026. Taylor Mill Elementary and Ryland Heights Elementary combine to $29.9 million from April 2026 to August 2027 substantial completion. River Ridge Elementary is a $4 million expansion with Ashley Builders Group named, completing August 2026. Designs are underway at Kenton Elementary and Taylor Mill Elementary. Active 2026 recurring-services bids on the KSBA portal include bus tires, bus parts, bus fluids, copy paper, and a Crescent Springs bus-garage diesel-fuel mobile-fleet RFP.

Covington Independent — about 4,000 students — is in a superintendent transition. The outgoing superintendent retires at the end of school year 2025-26, with Alma Advisory Group running the search and a new superintendent hired by March 2026. The district was a party to the August 2025 Covington Central Riverfront Blocks M and N (CCR-MN) Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) closing on the Silverman, Messer, KZF mixed-use development — 280 apartments, 7,700 square feet of commercial, and a 133-space garage. Performance Services (Indianapolis-headquartered) is the historic energy-services partner per the case study on performanceservices.com.

Ludlow Independent — about 900 students — runs a $39 million renovation from 2024 to 2026, with $28 million from the state and the balance from local bonding. The Atlas Companies and OK Interiors are named on active change orders. The board approved $39,397.40 in change orders in July 2025. The high-school cafeteria on Oak Street, the Adela Street addition, the library, band, and multi-purpose rooms, and the gym floor and locker rooms are all scheduled across 2026. The District Facilities Plan files capital priorities for the 2026–2028 biennium.

Combined active capital through 2027 sits above $100 million, with named primes already on the KSBA portal. That's the capital spend. The recurring-services spend — the candidate's lane — is the multi-year-renewable food, transport, janitorial, IT, mechanical service, pest, and athletic envelope that rebids on one-to-three-year cycles tied to substantial-completion handovers.

The credentialing stack is moderate but multi-district. You need KSBA bid-portal proficiency across the three district agency IDs with same-day-of-close discipline. Bonding capacity needs to absorb three simultaneous awards — a surety credit line of $2 million to $5 million effective capacity. Multi-district insurance floors run $2M/$4M general liability, $1 million auto (higher for transport-fleet), $5 million umbrella, Kentucky-statutory workers' compensation, cyber and crime endorsements where IT or student-data scope applies, and a sexual abuse and molestation rider where staff are on-campus. A Kentucky-resident principal with Kentucky business situs matters — not a Cincinnati-headquartered vendor extending across the river. KSBA cooperative-bid scoring sometimes weights Kentucky-resident vendor presence.

The founder lane is acquisition-with-continuity, not greenfield. The window from second quarter 2026 through third quarter 2027 is bounded; greenfield onboarding would miss it. Performance Services is the Covington Independent energy-services incumbent and is named only for the scope it covers — this candidate does not pitch into the energy-performance-contracting lane. Out-of-area defenders from the Cincinnati MSA compete, but Kentucky-resident operating-entity status is the discipline. Beechwood Independent (Codell Phase 6A complete 2021 and 6B complete 2022, donor-funded small capital) and Erlanger-Elsmere ($7.42 million federal Education only, no 2025-26 capital cycle surfaced) are not in this three-district stack.

Acquired book illustrative arithmetic: $2M revenue × 12% EBITDA = $240K EBITDA at close. Year 1: organic plus one new district win (e.g., Ludlow recurring-services post-substantial-completion handover at the new HS cafeteria) = $2.6M revenue × 12% = $312K. Year 2-3: full three-district stack at compounding renewals = $3.5-4.5M revenue × 12-14% = $420-630K.

Owner W-2 + distributions at steady state: $180-280K combined, with debt service covered, surety line maintained, and equity-value compounding via EBITDA growth × multiple (3-5×) on a 5-year hold. Sensitivity: a single district loss (e.g., a KCPS rebid lost to a Cincinnati-side competitor) compresses the math materially; the three-district stack is the thesis, not the floor.

Capital stack. Acquisition price for an aging recurring-services incumbent with $1-3M revenue + 8-15% EBITDA margin: 3-5× EBITDA = $250K-$2M enterprise value range, typical SBA 7(a) financeable at 10-25% equity injection. Founder check: $200K-$500K for the equity injection + closing costs. Working capital line: $250K-$1M revolver against district-receivable collateral (KY school districts are A1/AA-rated payors; receivable financing rates are favorable). Bonding line: surety credit of $2-5M effective capacity (typically requires audited financials post-acquisition + personal-guarantee + working-capital ratios).

• Kenton County Public Schools (KCPS)

  Countywide K-12 district — active capital cycle

  Institution

  Roughly 14,000 students. The board approved $60 million in general-obligation bonds on May 5, 2026. Taylor Mill and Ryland Heights combine to $29.9 million; River Ridge runs $4 million with Ashley Builders Group named. KSBA AgencyID 93.
• Covington Independent Public Schools

  K-12 — superintendent transition and CCR-MN PILOT party

  Institution

  About 4,000 students. The outgoing superintendent retires end of school year 2025-26. Alma Advisory Group is running the search. A new superintendent is hired by March 2026, which creates vendor-relationship-reset risk for non-energy-services incumbents. KSBA AgencyID 42.
• Ludlow Independent Schools

  K-12 — $39 million renovation 2024–2026

  Institution

  About 900 students. The Atlas Companies and OK Interiors are named on active change orders (board approved $39,397.40 in July 2025). Scope includes the Oak Street high-school cafeteria, the Adela Street addition, the library, band, and multi-purpose rooms, and gym and locker rooms in 2026. KSBA AgencyID 106.
• Erlanger-Elsmere Independent Schools

  K-12 — no current capital cycle

  Institution

  $7.42 million federal Education only on recent USA Spending data, likely ESSER or Title I. Not in this three-district stack.
• Beechwood Independent Schools

  K-12 — single-campus PK-12 in Fort Mitchell

  Institution

  Codell Phase 6A complete in 2021 and Phase 6B complete in 2022. Donor-funded small capital off the SBDM-process timing. Not in this three-district stack.
• Ashley Builders Group

  KCPS named prime — River Ridge Elementary $4 million expansion

  Institution

  Named by KCPS board on the River Ridge Elementary expansion, August 2026 complete.
• The Atlas Companies and OK Interiors

  Ludlow Independent named primes — $39 million renovation

  Institution

  Named on the July 2025 active change-order docket totaling $39,397.40.
• Performance Services

  Covington Independent historic energy-services partner

  Out-of-county

  Indianapolis-headquartered ESCO incumbent at Covington Independent per their case study. This candidate does not pitch into energy-performance contracting.
• Alma Advisory Group

  Covington Independent superintendent search firm

  Out-of-county

  During the transition window the interim contact path runs through the board chair and the Alma engagement lead.
• Silverman & Co., Messer Construction, and KZF Design

  CCR-MN Investment Partners — August 2025 PILOT party with Covington Independent

  Out-of-county

  Blocks M and N — 280 apartments, 7,700 square feet of commercial, and a 133-space garage. Covington Independent's general-fund property-tax base is partially forgone through the PILOT term, which affects general-fund procurement headroom.
• Kentucky School Boards Association (KSBA) Cooperative Bid program

  Statewide cooperative-bid coordinator

  Out-of-county

  The AgencyID portal at portal.ksba.org carries district-level bid postings.

The acquisition lane in this candidate is acquisition-with-continuity, not greenfield. The three-district stack thesis is bounded by the 2026-Q2-through-2027-Q3 capital-cycle window; greenfield onboarding would miss the window. The realistic Kenton-resident pool of recurring-services incumbents at one of the three active districts (KCPS, Covington Independent, Ludlow) at the $1M-$3M revenue tier with founder-era ownership is small but real — verification pulls KY SoS on Kenton-resident NAICS 561720 (janitorial), 484110 (general freight trucking), 722310 (food service contractors), 561622 (other services to buildings), 561730 (landscape services for athletic-facility maintenance) entities filtered to pre-2005 file dates.

The highest-yield path is SBA 7(a) succession-buy of a single-district incumbent with one solid KCPS / Covington Independent / Ludlow anchor at 3-5× EBITDA = $250K-$2M enterprise value. Reader stands up KSBA-portal proficiency across AgencyIDs 93/42/106; binds multi-district insurance floors + surety credit line; closes the acquisition with $200K-$500K founder equity injection + $250K-$1M working-capital revolver against district-receivable collateral; expands organically across the other two districts on the substantial-completion handover schedule (KCPS Taylor Mill + Ryland Heights Aug 2027; Ludlow HS cafeteria 2026; Covington Independent post-superintendent-search 2027).

Cert and onboarding scope. KSBA cooperative-bid registration is portal-based at portal.ksba.org. KY-resident operating-entity status (registered agent, principal place of business, KY occupational license fees paid to a Kenton city) is 1-2 weeks. Multi-district insurance floors (GL $2M/$4M + auto $1M + umbrella $5M + KY-statutory WC + cyber/crime endorsements + sexual abuse/molestation rider) bind in 2-4 weeks for clean credit. Surety credit line $2-5M effective capacity requires audited financials post-acquisition.

• — KCPS Superintendent identity, current term, and direct-line vs. front-office routing before any outreach.
• — KCPS Director of Purchasing — the active bus-tire, bus-parts, bus-fluids, and copy-paper bid cycle runs through this office, not the superintendent.
• — Covington Independent Board Chair and the Alma Advisory Group engagement-lead's name. The interim contact path runs through both during the search window.
• — Ludlow Independent Superintendent and Business Manager identities. The District Facilities Plan for the 2026–2028 biennium gives capital-priority context.
• — The KSBA Cooperative Bid program contact who can walk you through multi-district vendor strategy.
• — How the August 2025 Covington Central Riverfront PILOT closing affects Covington Independent's general-fund procurement headroom across the PILOT term. Read the closing documents before pricing long-tenor scope into the district.
• — The bond-fund versus general-fund procurement-cycle distinction. The $60 million KCPS construction wave is bond-funded and follows Kentucky school-bond procurement law — Department of Education review, KSBA portal posting, prevailing-wage compliance, state-architect review. Recurring-services scope is general-fund. Misreading which fund a scope rides creates compliance exposure.
• — How Beechwood (recent Codell capital complete) and Erlanger-Elsmere (no current capital cycle) might re-enter the stack if a future bond cycle moves.

Tonight, this week, this month — in that order. Each step produces a yes/no or a number, not a deeper understanding.