By Bill Kurtz
Catholic Herald

Catholic schools get financial management tips

RICE LAKE -- Visiting the Superior Diocese for a workshop on financial management for Catholic schools was almost nostalgic for Timothy Dwyer of the National Catholic Education Association. Dwyer had previously served as superintendent for the dioceses of Rochester, N. Y. and Gaylord, Mich. He said Gaylord, at the top of Michigan's lower peninsula, was a diocese reminiscent of Superior.

"Gaylord is a lot like the schools here," Dwyer remarked, "low enrollments but lots of hard-working people." He presented the program at St. Joseph Parish here, and 13 of the diocese's 17 schools were represented, as well as schools in the Duluth, Minn. and Rockford, Ill. dioceses.

Dwyer stressed the importance of systematic budgeting as a key for schools to survive and thrive, saying budgets "should be the financial expression of your mission." Without long-term planning, Dwyer warned, "you're budgeting out of desperation, not aspiration.

"For too many years," Dwyer said, "Catholic schools have been stuck in a year-to-year survival mentality." He urged administrators to "push the horizon (so) we know how healthy we'll be in three to five years, and how we'll get there."

By thinking long-term, Dwyer added, "we're in a position to budget from strength, not desperation."

Budgets aren't just done once and put aside for a year, either. Unexpected developments can force changes. As Dwyer asked, "have any of you ever had a roof problem in the middle of the year, or a boiler go bad?"

Dwyer also said expenditures should be regularly monitored. "Monthly analysis allows you to stay on top of problems," he explained. "It's easier to deal with problems in November or December, than if you don't discover them until April."

Fundraising was a major topic for Dwyer, because "I'm not sure there's any Catholic school in America that charges full cost. We ought to remind people of that every year.

"Generally our teachers make a lot less than they could in public schools, or should," Dwyer added. "We need to try to increase salaries as much as we can, but to pay them what they're worth would bankrupt many parishes -- until we get our development act together."

In planning fundraising activities, "generally, the fewer you do, the better, but do those you do well," Dwyer advised. He also warned that "you've got to make sure you have the revenue in hand, or a pretty solid projection, before you include it in the budget."

Dwyer cited the experience of a school in Charlevoix, Mich., to illustrate his point. Charlevoix is a popular resort area, and the local Catholic school participated in a summer festival. The school's chicken dinners were budgeted to bring in $110,000. Unfortunately, one summer saw several straight rainy weekends, and the dinners brought in only $60,000.

Diocesan school superintendent Phyllis Schlagel said the diocese's goal for school budgets was to have 40 percent of income from tuition, 40 percent from parish support, and 20 percent from fundraising and other sources.

"I'm proud that most of our schools have brought the parish subsidy down close to 40 percent," Schlagel said.

Both Dwyer and Schlagel stressed the need to promote enrollment. As Dwyer put it, "more kids is the solution to most of our problems," since about 80 percent of a school's budget is committed to teacher salaries and benefits.

Schlagel said schools' top market target should be Catholic parents. "You need to recognize your greatest potential (market) is your own parishes," she said.

Dwyer said most parents decide where to enroll their children about the time the children are three years old, and said mothers cast the key vote.

"We know dads' votes don't count," he quipped. "You need to market to moms before the third birthday, to capture them before they've made their decision."

Once students enroll, schools must still make sure their bills are paid. Mike Spanier, regional vice president of a tuition management firm, said that "most schools do not collect some tuition when it's supposed to be paid. In the vast majority of those situations, it's a priority issue, not a money issue."

In other words, deadbeat parents frequently have enough money, "but tuition is put at the bottom of the pile of bills." Spanier's firm, FACTS, serves about 1,500 schools nationwide, including St. Patrick, Hudson; St. Anthony de Padua, Park Falls; and St. Anne, Somerset.

Budgeting "is a skill that's part of good school management," Schlagel said. "If your finances are in order, the rest of things are going to go smoother.

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2002