St. Paul School Finance 101

We are in our last ten days of current family registration before we open the registration process to new families on March 16th. I thought this might be a good time to bring you up to speed on some of the financial basics of St. Paul School. (All of these details are rough estimates, not exact numbers).
• We enroll about 500 students every year.
• The auction earns somewhere between $120,000 - $150,000 per year, or about $300 per student.
• The cost to educate one student at St. Paul School this year averages $4,500.
• Tuition brings in an average of $3,100 per student (because we offer family discounts, in vs. out of parish rates, different rates for preschool, etc.).
• This leaves a net shortfall of about $1,100 per student (or about $550,000). The parish budgets to provide this subsidy to the school. Some years, the parish has provided a subsidy in excess of $700,000.
• Because Sunday collections are down (due to the economy), the parish expects to have a budget shortfall by June, 2009, of almost $250,000.

All of these facts mean that we will have to make some difficult decisions for the 2009-2010 school year. We have committed to a very small tuition increase (approximately 1%), but this increase will not even cover the increases we forecast in benefits and utilities. This means that even freezing salaries will not help the budget deficit.

(The Capital Campaign dollars, while very successful, are restricted dollars and can only be used for the renovation program. We do believe that this renovation, over the long term, will save us money in terms of utility costs, etc.)

Therefore, we have to consider whether we can continue to provide three sections of a grade. In first grade, for example, we have three teachers for 56 students. Because our maximum classroom size is 26 students, we are (in effect) providing that third teacher for only four students. We may have to cap our class sizes to go back to two sections of each grade (or allow a temporary overage in class sizes).

Registration Concerns
This, of course, leads to my concerns about registration. If we have to cap our class sizes to go back to two sections of each grade, you may not have space in the grade for which you wish to register your child. Please register before March 16, if you are eligible to do so. Once we begin open registration, it’s “first come, first served.”

If you know that you will not be returning to St. Paul School next year, please let me know as soon as possible. It will help me in my planning and budgeting for next school year. (This can be a completely confidential conversation).