8 Common Practices Holding Christian Schools Back

By Barry Giller – Head of School | Charlotte Christian School in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“Leaders bring hope and clarity”

This quote often attributed to Warren Bennis has helped guide my decisions when it comes to our school’s financial sustainability as well as daily decisions. Parents as consumers demand transparency from the school’s leadership as they annually make the important decision of re-enrollment. A community’s morale can be raised when anemphatic leader provides hope and clarity.

Over the course of my career, I have learned a few hard lessons that boards and heads should try to avoid if theywant to provide hope and clarity.

1 – Have the board vote on a tuition increase and not a complete budget.

Too many boards begin the budget discussion erroneously focused on one question- what is the tuition increase? Once learning of the increase board members personalize the increase by thinking of one family who may not be able to afford the increase. This personal lens then clouds the ability of a board member to truly fulfill their fiduciary responsibility.

Rather, a complete budget should be presented to the board for approval during the winter months. The budget should include personnel increases, benefit allocations, financial aid numbers, expense adjustments and a tuition increase. Tuition is one lever of several rather than the trigger for all other budget decisions. The administration must start with an accurate enrollment prediction and the expenses needed to execute the school’s mission to that number of students. Then the tuition can be calculated.

2 – Confuse affordability with accessibility

Within those budget discussions, often schools become confused by the term affordable. A lower tuition does not necessarily make a school affordable. Our schools should be accessible through a robust financial aid program. Harvard University would never be considered affordable by its sticker price; however, the school remains committed to being accessible. Admitted students are pursued with aggressive financial aid packages that make an Ivy League education available to all.

Unfortunately for too long in Christian education, we have deflated our tuition levels in order to be affordable. What this in reality does is greatly diminish the ability to attract and retain great teachers while sending a message to the community that our education is inferior. Consumers often equate quality with price. The higher the tuition the more likely parents will believe the sacrifice is worth it. A sustainable school is one that is accessible, not affordable.

3 – Artificially deflate tuition by having a robust fee structure.

Another fatal trap is keeping tuition artificially low by increasing fees. We do not want parents to be shocked with our sticker price, so once they enroll, we upcharge them with fees for everything including field trips, books, lunch, technology and clubs. We even reward graduates with a cap and gown fee- congratulations, we are so proud of you, now give us a check for $45 to participate in our commencement.

Meanwhile, we lose an opportunity to provide hope and clarity. Parents believe the cost of school is one number but find out eight checks later the ‘real’ cost. Boards and heads need to be courageous and offer parents an all-inclusive tuition and eliminate any nickel and dime additional fees.

4 – Have a strategic plan that merely serves as a bookend on your shelf.

The minute I jump in the car I rely on my GPS to show me the fastest path to my destination.

The GPS takes the guesswork out of driving and provides all strategic decisions. A well-designed strategic plan is a school’s GPS.

For five years, all important decisions and initiatives at Charlotte Christian have been guided by our strategic plan. The plan itself provides a road map, which in turn gives our community clarity about our vision and provides hope about our intended improvements. The plan is a live document and easy to read. My annual goals, and those of my team, come directly from the strategic plan. This provides hope and clarity to the school’s leadership.

5 – Do not concern yourself with knowing the numbers.

“Tell us about your sales.”

If you ever watch Shark Tank you know that every entrepreneur will be asked about the numbers. Kevin O’Leary (Mr.Wonderful) is infamous for verbally abusing those who do not know their numbers. I wonder how many Christian school leaders could survive the Shark Tank when it comes to answering about our numbers?

Schools should have an easy-to-read dashboard that reports on the key numbers for a school’s health. The dash board should tie directly into the school’s strategic plan and might include key numbers like enrollment and retention trends, cash reserve totals, AP scores, development goals, net promoter scores, net asset growth, and budget surplus/deficit.

6 – Focus on participation and events, no need to directly ask people for money.

When is a donor most likely to significantly invest in an organization’s mission? The emphatic leader will know this answer is not a letter, social media post or large event. I can best provide hope and clarity in a conversation while breaking bread with a potential donor. When I came to Charlotte Christian the emphasis for the annual fund was participation and the previous ten years saw little capital giving. We hosted several annual events including a ‘boosterthon’ that had our students raising money while our paid professionals counted laps.

It takes courage to sit across from a parent and ask them to prayerfully consider a gift of five, six or seven figures but it is the task of the leader. In the last six years, we changed our focus from participation to dollars raised and fully committed to major fund development. Six building projects later our campus has been transformed as our community generously supported our master campus plan.

7 – Take pride in being “the best kept secret in our region” or “the best value of the schools in our area.”

One of two things happen to a secret- it remains a secret and no one finds out or someone tells someone else and it is no longer a secret. For some reason we take pride in our schools being a secret. If a secret remains a secret, it dies a slow death, and sadly that has been true of many Christian schools. We can no longer afford being a secret, thus we need to lose this point of pride and tell our story. We need to be proud of the great things happening daily on our campuses and tell anyone who will listen. Social media platforms are primarily free, thus we should lead the way in utilizing this influential medium to reach our communities.

There is a reason McDonalds has a value menu and highly regarded restaurants do not. We should not be proud of being a value option for parents. We should want to be a premium option. Education is not a service that should be cheapened, rather the high value of the impact of Christian educators daily pouring into students should merit a significant price. When we speak of value, our parents hear “less than.”

8 – Be like the ten spies who saw only obstacles and dismiss Joshua and Caleb.

Can you name the ten spies who explored the promised land as recorded in Numbers 13? Most of us can name Joshua or Caleb, but what about Shammua, Shaphat, or Palti? There is a reason history has mostly forgotten these ten. They returned seeing only obstacles and reasons not to take the land. Joshua and Caleb saw possibilities and spoke with courage about what God could do.

My fear is that as Christian school leaders we are too much like the ten and not enough like Joshua and Caleb. We only see the obstacles and lack the courage and faith to charge ahead and make the difficult decisions. For our schools to thrive and remain sustainable for the generations to come we must bring the hope and clarity of Joshua and Caleb for when they returned from Canaan, they said, “we are well and able to overcome it.” May the same be said for our schools and our leaders.

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