THE VIABLE ALTERNATIVE

 

The following income and expense figures are from the Bishop’s analysis and listed here as a reference convenience.

 

Income St. John’s St. Mary’s

Tuition $254,350 $240,100

Fees 0 750

Subsidies - Parish 67,770 152,984

Subsidies – Diocese 10,000 8,370

Other Parishes 177,000 45,000

Fund Raising 10,000 62,000

Student Activities 0 25,000

Other Income 10,000 700

TOTAL $529,120 $534,904

 

Expenses

Administrative $84,865 $85,189

Instruction 328,180 376,029

Operation/Maintenance 60,075 47,995

Student Activities 0 22,500

Fixed Expenses 11,200 1,200

Non-Operating 0 24,344

TOTAL $484,320 $557,257

 

Surplus/(Deficit) $44,800 ($22,353)

 

Our plan assumes St. John the Baptist remains open and the students from St. Mary’s and St. John the Baptist are combined into the new school. The objectives of our plan include:

·        A heartfelt desire to strengthen Catholic education in Region 7

·        Attracting new students through the incentive provided to pastors

·        Maintain the capacity to accept new students

·        Provide Seton Catholic an opportunity to increase enrollment

 

Our surveys of parents indicate that 82% of St. Mary’s and 90% of St. John the Baptist students would remain in Catholic education if their school community remained intact at another school. Parents strongly oppose splitting their children among the four remaining schools and effectively destroying the school community developed over the years. Combining the two schools would keep enrollment at 249 students rather than the 141 projected by Bishop Martino’s plan. Keeping an additional 108 students in Catholic education is morally correct and business smart since it creates additional revenue of $194,400 based on the diocese tuition rate of $1,800 per student.

We also believe it is entirely possible to grow enrollment if pastors encourage parents to enroll their children in Catholic schools. After all, the reason for changing the parish assessment calculation was to provide this incentive to pastors. Enrollment growth of 5% or 50 students does not seem unreasonable when examined on the parish level. The growth amounts to a little more than two students from each of the 22 participating parishes. An additional 50 students represents $90,000 in additional revenue through growth.

It is also just as obvious that keeping the enrollment at 249 students provides Seton Catholic more of an opportunity to increase enrollment than the 141 students projected in the Bishop’s plan.

The fund raising effort at St. Mary’s was tremendous, and we believe it is also sustainable. St. Mary’s students and families were expected to raise $62,000 based on enrollment of 127 students. St. John the Baptist families and students were also expected to raise an additional $10,000. We conservatively estimate fund raising at the combined school would raise $75,000 per year based on a combined enrollment of 249 students.

The other income of $10,700 between the two schools would also increase revenue as there is no reason for it to be unavailable if the schools are combined.

The severance package related to the closing of two schools amounts to $220,000 that the five remaining schools will have to borrow from the diocese. Combining the schools implies the severance package could be $110,000, saving an equal amount in the first year the schools are combined.

The last item to be considered is the expense of operating five schools rather than four. St. John the Baptist has annual expenses of $484,320 and has to be deducted to make a realistic comparison between plans.

 

 

Financial Summary of the Alternative Plan

Bishop’s expected surplus closing both schools $363,585

Additional tuition revenue by maintaining a

higher % of enrollment in the combined school 194,400

Additional tuition from growth 90,000

Fund raising from the combination of schools 75,000

Additional other income 10,700

Savings from the severance package 110,000

Cost of operating St. John the Baptist (484,320)

Surplus from the alternative plan $359,365