ACADEMY NEWS- Financial 11/4/04

St. Michael Academy, a fully accredited Catholic elementary school with a century-old history on Amelia Island, Florida exists to: Build Strong Faith,    Build Loving Hearts,  Build Inquiring Minds, Build Healthy Bodies      

(MISSION STATEMENT)

Each day we touch the lives of 199 students and 150 families=500 people. We strive:

·    to pass on and deepen faith in our Children in a Christ-centered educational environment and nurture love and mutual respect among students, teachers, parents and all who support our school family, in order to spread the message of Jesus Christ in our homes, our community and our world.

·    to cultivate the intellectual development of the minds of our students in accordance with Catholic values and to create motivated, lifelong learners. 

We believe we provide an excellent education complete with technology and the arts.  In a national testing program (Iowa Test of Basic Skills-fall 2003) our students in Grades 3-8 tested in the top 17% of the nation (average of overall class percentages=83%).

 As you know, the Academy has been self-sustaining since its inception six years ago, offsetting its expenses with tuition income, proceeds from fundraising events, and contributions from generous individual donors.

 The Academy requires a full complement of tuition-paying students to operate at break-even.  Since it has never had close to that number, it has relied inordinately on donations and fundraisers to balance its expenses. Until we can naturally grow a full complement of sixth, seventh, or eighth graders or recruit sufficient transfers to fill the ranks (sooner), we will need to rely heavily on fund-raisers and individual donations.

 This year’s budget for St. Michael’s projects expenses will exceed revenues by approximately $100,000.  We have been reviewing how this condition came about and how to deal with it. The cumulative impact of uncertainty about whether “a middle school” would indeed be built-and if so, when, has contributed to the loss of income projections.  The decline of the stock market was felt in the lack of contributions to the school and to building campaigns. Proceeds from the annual “Restoration Celebration” have fallen off substantially…and all the uncertainty and its attendant temporary fixes to house a growing student body have worked to suppress enrollment in the highest school grades.

 Certainly this has us concerned-but not alarmed. The class enrollments for the lower grades are at capacity with waiting lists for some grades. We will soon have our long-needed classroom space and science lab in a fine new building. We will finally, after years of never having had the space and amenities, be able to accommodate a full complement of 240 students in eight grades, kindergarten, and pre-K…as originally planned.

 In coming weeks we will be announcing a new initiative to replenish the Academy’s scholarship assistance fund and two major fundraisers planned for 2005 that will require broad parish support. A January “Monte Carlo Night” will replace the Restoration Celebration and a Spring golfing event will be planned. The Academy and the St. Michael Catholic Women’s Club have also planned some joint ventures this year-one being a Christmas Craft Bazaar and Spaghetti Dinner on Nov. 13^th at the Atlantic Rec. Center and the other being a “money calendar” (details to follow).

 Early next year, when we reassess the Academy’s situation in light of these initiatives, we will be better able to budget for future needs.  At this point we have made no plans to:

• To increase tuition this year to make up the deficit.  (As usual we will present our tuition and fee schedule in February and we will do our best not to raise any fees substantially.)

We are proud of our staff, our students, our parents, and our community. We welcome your visits, your suggestions, and your support.

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