School districts publicly have made budget and staff cuts over the past years, and they continue to brace for cuts, awaiting final allocations numbers from the Mississippi Department of Education. And while public schools have suffered loudly from a down economy, independent schools throughout the state also have been impacted, quietly, adjusting to the financial climate.
While many area private schools have maintained steady enrollment and are able to get by without major changes, others have cut staff and are more careful with travel expenses. But it”s a song private schools are used to. The number of teachers and other employees can vary, depending on enrollment.
Still, officials say, it doesn”t make the decisions any easier.
“I think the first thing that all schools are doing is looking at their staff and their faculty, you have to make adjustments to your enrollment,” said David Derrick, executive director of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools. “I know that”s been one of the toughest things to do is to go in and adjust your staff to fit your enrollment, and that may mean letting some people go that may have been with you a long time.”
Heritage Academy in Columbus cut three part-time positions this year, in response to a decline in enrollment, from 607 last year to 567 this year. Those duties have been absorbed into other positions.
“It certainly has had an impact on the school,” said Tommy Gunn, headmaster for Heritage. “All private schools are basically run the same way, which is (on) tuition dollars.”
Up to 90 percent of the school”s budget is in salaries, he said.
Derrick said throughout the state, anywhere from 80-85 percent of private school budgets are spent on salaries.
And with other expenses more or less fixed — text books, utilities, technology and supplies — personnel is really the only area to cut.
“You try not to cut anything that is going to cut into you academic structure,” Gunn said, noting Heritage has “been able to do that and maintain the same courses and advanced placement offerings.
In West Point, Oak Hill Academy has about 395 students, down about 45 from last year.
“Our enrollment is decreasing. Part of that might be economic conditions, and also people moving,” said Bill Miley, headmaster for Oak Hill. “That has not been a trend of just the recent years. That”s kind of been a trend for several years now, and part of that is the decrease in the live birth rate.”
Miley was prepared for the decrease in entering kindergartners, as a study showed a dip in the birth rate.
“When you only have 20 to 30 come in, and you have 40 to 50 graduate, you”re gonna get smaller,” Miley said.
While the school hasn”t had to let anyone go, there have been positions lost through retirement and relocation that were not replaced.
Overall, the 114 independent schools that are members of MAIS have lost about 1 percent of their enrollment, from September of 2009 to September of 2010, a figure Derrick calls surpassingly small.
“We have roughly about 38,000 students in the association,” Derrick said. “Over the past five years, it”s been stable, a gradual drop from about 39,000 to 38,000. We were really surprised. We thought the downturn would affect us more than it has.
“There are people that are having to make choices about tuition and other expenses associated with a non-public schools and other priorities,” he continued.
The Delta and the oil-ravaged Mississippi Gulf Coast have been affected the most, Derrick said.
Locally, Columbus and West Point have taken a hit because of the closure of industries, he added, noting Starkville independent schools, driven largely by the university, have remained almost immune.
“We are actually gaining in enrollment. We have been for the past 12 out of 15 years,” said Randy Witbeck, principal of Starkville Christian Academy.
Starkville Christian enrolls about 198, up from 185 last year and 150 the year before.
Immanuel Center for Christian Education in Columbus also is growing slightly, with about 303 students, up from 286 last year and 276 the year prior.
“We”re a school that lives off their tuition, so we”re always careful about our spending,” said Bob Williford, principal of Immanuel. “But the increase in enrollment has helped us get through the hard times.”
Victory Christian Academy in Columbus has 313 students, a range in which it has stayed over the past five to six years, with a low enrollment of about 295 and high of about 350.
“We”ve been fortunate not to have to do a lot of changes in the last few years, because our enrollment has stayed relatively the same,” said headmaster Chris Hamm. The school also is supported largely by Victory Freewill Baptist Church, which started the school.
“What the school brings in goes back into salaries and the operation of the school day to day,” Hamm noted.
Tuition and fees vary from about $2,500 to about $5,000 for area private schools. And tuition increases have been slight, in an effort to keep costs affordable during a down economy.
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