Summary of Town Hall Meeting #1
Dear St. Mark Parish Community,
Two weeks ago, I had the difficult task of sharing with all of you the challenges faced by our ministry of St. Mark School. On May 16, a parish meeting was held to discuss the current situation and to develop a plan for the future. I was very encouraged to see the parish lay leadership (Finance Council, Parish Council and School Council), along with Principal Paul Doty, myself and the diocesan CFO and Superintendent of Schools work together for the sake of our parish and its important ministry of Catholic education. It will be important for us to continue to BE POSITIVE as we look to the future and not focus on the past, and to continue to WORK TOGETHER, putting aside agendas and differences, for the sake of the parish, of which the school is an important ministry. This positive attitude and willingness to work together must extend to all of us in the parish and school community to ensure the long-term success of the school.
This is a parish school and we are all accountable to see that it succeeds. For the past several years, the School has run on a deficit budget. All of the parish leadership, especially myself as your pastor, accept our share of the responsibility leading to this current challenge. The deficit budget is the result of three causes:
- 1. Unpaid tuition by parents of enrolled students;
- 2. A decrease in the parish contribution as a result of the shortfall in parish financial stewardship; and
- 3. Inability to meet our projected enrollment for the school.
Our short-term need is to develop a balanced budget. For the 2009-2010 school year, the following budget has been approved:
- Revenue: $821,650
- Projected school enrollment of 130 (current enrollment is 116 students)
- 20% increase in tuition for grades K-8
- 25% increase in tuition for pre-K
- Parish contribution of 20% of Sunday collections
- 6 out of 9 Sunday second collections earmarked for the School
- Expenses: $818,305
- Combined middle school (grades 6-8)
- Combined 4th/5th grade
- Retention of programs in art, music, technology, and physical education
Additionally, a new policy with associated procedures will be put into place to collect the outstanding tuition of approximately $80,000 in addition to ensuring better receivables in the future.
Our long-term goal is to increase enrollment so that all grades from pre-K through 8th grade are at capacity, and to ensure the financial integrity of the school. The entire parish community must work toward this goal if we are to achieve it. One of the areas where every member of St. Mark Catholic Church can help is through weekly financial giving. The contribution that the parish provides to the school is based on a percentage of overall financial giving using your stewardship envelopes. For the current fiscal year, the parish has a shortfall of $17,000 in parish giving. Additionally, on weekends that include a second collection, a majority of parish families split their normal weekly giving between the weekly collection and the second collection rather than providing additional financial giving through the second collection. This adds to the shortfall in parish contributions to the school, even on those weekends in which the second collection is earmarked for the school, because the regular weekly collections are decreased. The math is simple:
More financial giving to the parish = more revenue for the school
A new communication structure will be set in place to ensure a better and more collaborative working relationship between the three councils, the pastor, and the principal. The chairs of the three advisory bodies will meet with the pastor monthly, and the entire membership of the advisory bodies will meet four times annually. Additionally, the leadership will communicate with the entire parish community in the following ways:
- The Finance Council will include the School in its bulletin reports beginning in August 2009;
- Detailed financial information will be shared with the parish community and parents quarterly;
- Enrollment progress will be communicated monthly, and parents will be notified of enrollment shortfalls so that fundraising goals can be adjusted accordingly;
- Similar “town hall meetings” will be scheduled to keep the parish informed (next scheduled meeting is July 12 after the 11 a.m. Mass).
Together, we can build the ministry of Catholic education. It takes each of us in the parish to ensure the success of the School. When we talk about the School with other parishioners and members of the Madison County community, we need to be positive and to highlight the great gifts that Catholic education and St. Mark School are to our community. We need to share our gifts with the School: spiritually through prayers for the School; financially by using our stewardship envelopes and meeting our financial responsibility to the entire parish, as well as being generous with giving for second collections; and through service by volunteering to share our unique talents with the School.
As always, let us continue to pray for one another, that we may be good stewards of the resources of which we have been blessed and supporters of the ministries to which we have been called.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. James W. Sichko