2015-2016 School Year
Posted: 02/24/2015 - by Charlie Narmi
Dear Saint Albert Families...
The draft budget for the 2015-2016 school year was approved by the Area Board Monday night. Many of the assumptions in the budget are based on a projection of our enrollment. For 2015-2016 we are projecting a slight decline. This is primarily due to smaller class sizes entering our Elementary grades - our retention of students/class sizes at the upper grades is steady.
For example: the current and last year graduating Senior classes had 54 and 59 students respectively. Our incoming Kindergarten class for this year had 40 students and we are projecting 40 Kindergarten students for next year. This alone caused a decline of 33 students over the past two years. This decline is consistent with schools statewide.
We have efforts underway to recruit new students and continue to work on initiatives to welcome Latino families (the fastest growing segment of the Catholic Church). We receive calls about every day from prospective families. It seems our best recruiting tool is our current parents who, through word of mouth, tell their friends, co-workers and acquaintances about the positive experience Saint Albert Catholic School provides. I encourage you to continue sharing your stories about our School with those around you.
Efforts are underway by our administration to review and reduce expenses where possible while at the same time assuring that we provide the high quality programs you and the Community expect from Saint Albert Catholic.
There are three items which are very significant to our budget process. Our overall budget is right at $6 million for the 2015-2016 school year. Attached are graphs showing budget categories for income and expenses. Parish Support and Tuition make up 2/3 of Saint Albert income. On the expense side, 75% of the spending is salaries and benefits for teachers, administrators and staff. While the rest of the budget is very important to the operation of the School, these three areas make up the bulk of our budget discussion.
2015-2016 Expenses:
2015-2016 Income
- a small increase in Parish Assessments of 1%
- an average increase in tuition of 3%
- an average increase in wages for our faculty and staff of 1.5%
Much of the other income and spending will be the same in 2015-2016 as it is this school year.
I am very thankful for the everyone that makes our Catholic School possible. Catholic Schools are truly a sacrifice and truly a blessing. It takes the sacrifice of our parishes for their financial support; it takes the sacrifice of our parents to pay tuition; it takes the sacrifice of our faculty and staff who earn less wages than the local and national average for their field.
We are also blessed to have the Catholic Tuition Organization (CTO) to support our families. CTO began 10 years ago and the program has grown to be the largest source of tuition assistance for our families. For the 2015-2016 school year, CTO will have additional assistance funds available in our Diocese. These additional funds will allow grants (for those families who qualify) of between 20% and 75% of their tuition bill. I encourage families who have tuition concerns to apply today (the deadline is April 1 - but don't wait). If you are having difficulty applying or need assistance with the application fee - contact me.
Click here for the tuition schedule for 2015-2016. You will note that the $100 pre-registration/commitment fee has been rolled into the tuition so a separate payment at pre-registration is not required.
Click here to apply for CTO. Use 450 for the school code and cto450 for the password. Also attached is a CTO brochure that provides instructions for applying for a grant.
Thank you again for your support of Saint Albert Catholic School.
Please let me know if you have questions.
~Joe~
--
Joseph Connolly (Class of '75)
President
Saint Albert Catholic Schools
(712) 329-9000 Extension 1
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