How Private Schools are Preparing for Economic Hardship
While public school officials battle state and local budgets, private schools expect significant decreases in enrollment as more unemployed parents chose between costs of living and costs of education.
Large decreases in enrollment could lead to a greater strain on state and federal economic burdens.
“We’ve priced ourselves out of an independent education for some parents,” Barney Hester said. Hester is the headmaster of Tattnall Square Academy, a 40-year-old private Christian school located in Macon, Ga.
Private schools like Tattnall Square are losing students by the hundreds as parents chose cheaper alternatives in education such as public or home schooling.
“…All things being equal, if we have a good school in our neighborhood that doesn’t cost $15,000 a year, that’s what we will opt for,” Glen West, a father of two, said.
The archbishop of Baltimore, Edwin O’Brien, warned pubic and private school leaders in a meeting on March 22 that a mass exodus from Catholic to public schools would cost the state $400 million to cover. Watch a video on Archbishop O’Brien and Baltimore Catholic schools.
The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported that nearly six million elementary and secondary students in the U.S. attend a private institution. Imagine if the federal government had to provide resources for six million more students.
In order to keep doors open, private schools are cutting costs by eliminating bottled water dispensers in school buildings, offering sibling discounts, putting off renovation projects, and laying off non-teaching staff. Sam Pace, the principle of Valley Christian School in Burton, Mich. recently fired himself in order to save on one more salary.
Despite the costs, some parents remain faithful to the private school system.
“I want to give my kids the opportunity to learn about their faith,” parent, Michael Bisanz, said. “It’s more important to us, I guess, than a new car or vacations.”
Still, even some of the faithful need aid in order to give their children the priority education. Many schools across the nation are seeing increases in financial aid requests.
“I’m hearing a lot that a spouse has lost their job, they’ll have to live on one income for a while. I’m seeing more of that than in the last 10 years,” Sister Linda Taber, the tuition assistant at St Pius X Catholic School, said.
Students and school officials alike are looking to God, and wealthy donors, to provide.
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