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Private schools: Fending off an exodus of students
Educators offering financial aid as families struggle to pay tuition amid the grinding recession
A student walks down the hall at the Meadows School in Summerlin Thursday, March 4, 2010.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | 2 a.m.
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Even as public schools are reeling from state budget cuts, private and parochial schools in the Las Vegas Valley are confronting their own financial struggles, with recession-slammed parents struggling to make tuition payments.
One high school will close its doors for want of students, and other schools are holding on to their families by offering financial aid, or by recruiting students from pricier campuses.
The most dramatic development in the ranks of the area's private schools was the announcement by Henderson International School that it will close two of the three campuses it operates and eliminate its high school program at the end of the current academic year.
The school, owned by Meritas LLC of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has a pre-K through 12th grade enrollment of about 850 students.
The company said fewer parents can afford its annual tuition, which for 12th graders is listed at $17,846 — or $40,675 including room and board.
“Despite years of intense efforts to raise enrollment and improve operations, the serious economic challenges facing our community have taken their toll,” head of schools Brian Siegel said in a statement. “While closing the high school was a very difficult decision, and only made after other options were fully explored, doing so returns our school to financial health and allows us greater resources and focus to provide our preschool through eighth grade students with the area’s finest academic experience.”
Kevin Dunning, executive director of Faith Lutheran Junior/Senior High School, says he is fielding calls from Henderson International families with children at all grade levels, who are either losing their high school or are concerned about the private company’s long-term prospects. There’s also been an increase in applications from families with children at other area private schools who are interested in transferring.
“They want to keep their child in a private school setting, but perhaps not at the $20,000 (per year) price tag,” Dunning said. “Our tuition (for grades 6-12) is $10,000, and that includes everything but the uniforms.”
So far Dunning hasn’t seen an influx of families fleeing a public school system in fiscal crisis.
“They may be waiting to see what the practical implications are of the (statewide) budget cuts and the implications for the Clark County School District,” Dunning said.
Faith Lutheran is enrolling for the 2010-11 academic year, and Dunning expects to see strong numbers. Enrollment is up this year to 1,320 from 1,275 last year.
This year the school has provided $650,000 in tuition discounts and direct grants, more than double the $280,000 awarded for the 2007-08 academic year.
That money has come from various sources, including the school’s decision to cut back on other expenses and move the dollars to tuition support. Dunning also made a direct appeal to parents in November to support the scholarship fund, and the response was strong — $52,000 in donations, compared with $28,000 in the prior year.
“We have very generous parents and supporters of this school,” Dunning said. “They try to step forward and help others, when they can.”
Nationally, from 2006 to 2009, private school enrollment dropped by about 146,000, or 2.5 percent, according to the U.S. Education Department.
Across the country, private campuses “have been able to maintain their enrollment largely because of the flexibility to increase financial aid temporarily,” said Myra McGovern, public information director for the National Association of Independent Schools in Washington, D.C. “They are helping families get through the rough spot and making adjustments later.”
Juniors Troy Batugal, from left, Sanchay Gupta, Ajay Batra and Sterling Campbell listen to a lecture during AP European History class at the Meadows School in Summerlin Thursday, March 4, 2010.
The association’s members include the Meadows School and the Alexander Dawson School, both in Summerlin.
McGovern said the group’s research of recessions going back to 1969 suggests that independent schools — private nonprofits — will weather the storm, but that enrollment may rebound more slowly at some schools and campuses may have to dip more deeply into reserve funds.
Over the past two years at the Meadows School, there’s been a steady increase in families seeking help, said Carolyn Goodman, founder of the private, nonprofit campus that offers preschool through 12th grade.
There have been “quite a few” families where a previously stay-at-home parent has gone back to work, and some single parents have taken on second jobs, Goodman said. In other cases, parents that had been paying in full have switched to monthly payment plans or asked their extended families for help paying tuition.
Within the past three months, five families have told her they’re taking their children out of the Meadows and moving because of an employment change.
Tuition at the Meadows ranges from $15,800 to $21,200, with about 18 percent of students receiving financial aid.
The attitude among parents who are now seeking additional assistance is that “this is temporary,” Goodman said. “These are people with great strength and determination. They don’t want to pull their kids out. They’ve said to me, ‘If you can help us through the next year to year and a half, we’ll be back where we were.’ ”
The Meadows’ overall enrollment has held steady since 2007, ranging from about 890 to 910 students. There’s been an influx of new families, some of whom have moved to Las Vegas to take jobs with the Nevada Cancer Institute.
Goodman said the Meadows is weathering the recession in part because of the financial model adopted when the school was created 26 years ago. There is a small administrative staff, with the vast majority of dollars going to the classroom. The campus itself is debt-free, as buildings were added only when donor funding would pay for them.
“That doesn’t mean any other school that might be having problems hasn’t been responsible,” Goodman said. “It just means we had a formula, we knew what we wanted to do and we held tight.”
At the Alexander Dawson School, which offers preschool through eighth grade and is enrolling for 2010-11, “our books are balanced, our enrollment is strong,” headmaster Michael Imperi said. “We’re not experiencing growth, but we’re not experiencing decline.”
The campus is satisfied to be “holding steady,” even though it comes after a heady few years when 10 percent enrollment growth was the norm, Imperi said.
Sophomore Keerthi Gondy sits by her locker after school at the Meadows School in Summerlin Thursday, March 4, 2010.
Requests for financial aid are up, and in several cases “it’s our families that had been paying tuition in full for years,” Imperi said.
Tuition is $19,400 for full-day kindergarten through fourth grade, and $19,700 for the upper grades.
About 20 percent of Alexander Dawson students receive some financial aid, which accounts for about 14 percent of the total budget. Donations to the school’s scholarship fund are up this year. “The families that are still doing well are even more generous than before,” Imperi said. “Those who are struggling are doing everything they can to keep their kid in an independent school.”
The Diocese of Las Vegas, which operates Bishop Gorman High School, has seen a 20 percent increase in requests for tuition assistance since the 2008-09 academic year. The percentage of students receiving some form of aid has risen to 35 percent from 29 percent in 2008. Last year the diocese awarded over $1 million in tuition assistance (the cost is $11,500 annually, discounted $1,400 for registered parishioners). At the same time, enrollment has grown at Bishop Gorman over the past two years, to 1,164 from 1,058.
At Las Vegas Day School, a K-8 program where tuition ranges from $12,700 to $14,700, enrollment stands at 750 students, down about 10 percent from last year. The for-profit school does not offer financial aid or scholarships.
“Private education is certainly a sacrifice,” director Neil Daseler said. “Unfortunately, we’ve lost some wonderful families.”
Enrollment was also down 10 percent last year, although families coming in throughout the academic year eventually brought the total numbers back up to where they had been. Daseler is optimistic that the vacant seats will again fill up. The school is enrolling for 2010-11.
“We’re hopeful,” Daseler said. “I want to be hopeful for our entire valley that the economy will improve and that Las Vegas will begin to rebound — for everyone’s sake.”
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We should pass vouchers and let all students have access to these schools. Let the state funds per student flow to private, public and charter schools and let the best succeed.
Keeping the vast majority of the students locked into a monopoly controlled by the teachers unions and political wannabes only locks the students on paths to failure.
Some of our public schools here in Las Vegas graduate more students in to prison rather than on to collage, tech schools, or jobs, like their supposed to be doing....
Crushing all public employee unions will go a long ways towards returning control of our government and the services they provide back to the people where it belongs.
Even if it hadn't accompanied the story, I could tell the photo was of a private school classroom. Everyone had a seat and the teacher was actually able to sit down rather than patrol for behavior problems! Ah, the luxury!
"We should pass vouchers and let all students have access to these schools. Let the state funds per student flow to private, public and charter schools and let the best succeed."
So the state is going to hand out a 20K voucher for every kid of school age?
Of course, somebody this ignorant would cite "the teacher unions" as a problem. How about parents who can't afford kids and shouldn't have them, who are kids themselves, who have substandard brains, who refuse to raise them because they feel that's the schools' job, who believe the government should do everything for them because they have rights - but never responsibilities? No, it's all the teacher union - which has no power in Las Vegas, where striking is illegal.
So you're going to foot the bill for everybody to go to an expensive private school? You get what you pay for, honey. The public schools are cheap.
Oh, lord, and here's another Einstein who believes what they read in the Review-Journal. Yes, planet Earth is calling. You might want to try landing your brain here for a while before you make ignorant comments.
I suppose you think teachers should have no limit on their work, that they should work 90 hours a week for 40K a year. That's what parents and the district want. They believe teachers should private tutor kids who are lazy and won't do a bit of homework, who won't listen in class, who are frequently absent, etc.
To both of you, and others who think like you do: May you receive the treatment as an employee that you want teachers to have. You deserve it; I don't. I already work well over 40 hours a week during the school year. I'm already exhausted after spending the day with a couple of hundred kids, many of whom are downright lazy about learning - but instead of doing something about it and instilling some respect for education, their parents feel I should bend over backward, sitting with them individually after school, putting in countless extra hours because of it, telling them every little thing to do, then give them an A.
Tell me, how many hours per week do you think is "enough" for teachers? I've worked 70 and 80 in the past, and I'll never do it again. I'll quit first, even if I don't have another job. I'm tired of the abuse and exploitation.
To Teacher I feel for you. But you do have benefits. The summer off Winter and spring recess,health benefits, retirement benefits. You can always go to the private sector where you can work even harder and shown the door !
I wouldn't really fault the teachers too much in all of this. The school district is too big and moves too slow. So when immediate changes need to be made which would benefit the students and their teachers, it doesn't happen. Plus, when you have inept administrators thrown into the mix, everyone suffers from their incompetence.
For the teacher, I am a parent and I definitely do not want to see you work 70 hours a week. I also agree with you that there are parents who are completely disengaged from the education of their child and are leaving it up to you, which is very sad.
Well By teacher,
I fully understand your dilemma with having to raise the children of those parents who loudly insist on their rights while shunning all responsibility.
That's part of where the people have to take back control of our runaway government, who has for the most part created the very parents you speak of.
I hear people crying out for more money so they can break the cycle of gang violence. No amount of money will break the cycle of gangs and the violence they cause because the parents of those gang bangers are gangsters themselves.
Crushing all public employee unions will go a long way towards the people taking back control of our government which has to be the first step towards fixing whats wrong.
Let's see 20K for private school, and 4K is what is spent on public school. I know a private school teacher who gets paid close to 100K per year, while we pay public school teachers 40K. We do not get paid for our time off as some of you think. A matter of fact, we are not paid for any extra work we do. The only people vouchers are going to help are those who already have kids in private schools. The state is not going to pay out 20K per kid, they are already struggling to pay 4k. If anything our governor will offer 2k, and tell everyone they are on their own. Good Luck!
All Federal & Sate funding that's supposed to go to K-12 education should be consolidated and divided up per child, with the money (all but 5% for administrative overhead) set as a voucher tied to that child that can be applied to any accredited public, private or voucher school that adheres to safety, health, and equal opportunity standards. Local districts can fund their own schools and compete for the voucher money alongside private & charter schools. May the best schools win.
It is not surprising that peope are flocking to Faith Lutheran. They offer a safe environment, after school activities and sports teams at a reasonable price. It appears to me the academics are probably similar to the local public schools in Summerlin, but you do get safety, a sense of community etc. If we would spend our public dollars wisely people would not have to pay 20K for private schools. We neglect the brightest students in our public school system. There are 3000 applicants for 300 seats at our magnet schools, yet no one thinks that this is a problem that needs to be addressed. Vouchers are not the answer. The answer is making sure that money is not "wasted" on children who can't learn traditionally or don't want to learn.
Yes. We should crush public education so "for profit" schools can make money and reduce the contributions to public school where the vast majority of students attend.
Vouchers are "yuppie welfare" for wealthier parents who want taxpayers to support their luxury.
Patina,
where do u get your bogus "4K spent on public school" figure?
don't forget that the cost of private school tuition pays for EVERYTHING, including the cost of the real estate and the expensive facilities and buildings that sit on them.
somehow this is never calculated into the public school per pupil spending, although the state certainly spends lots of money on this.
a well run private school doesn't spend any more actual dollars per pupil than our bloated public school, but is able to maintain standards and discipline that would offend to many in the public system. and the parents of kids in private school WANT their kids there, and spend considerable effort helping to insure their kids are developing intellectually and keeping up with the curriculum.
the problem is the same as the problems with ALL large government programs. lack of accountability and a mantra that "throwing more dollars" at the problem will solve it.
teacher - I thank you for your service. my hat is off to those who choose the teaching profession. it's a difficult job, with little financial reward, made more difficult by poor parenting, and the current "feel good" environment pressuring you to inflate grades, and not allowing discipline of disruptive lazy students.
this is why I work extra hours and drive a 15 year old car, so I can send MY kids to private school.
Check out Mount Olive School on Sandhill near Flamingo. Christian based, grades K-8, and tuition of less than $5500 per year for non church members and additional kids are less. Church members are $3750. All the kids/parents are treated with respect and enrollment is currently open to all. A great small school with great staff.
Signed a happy parent.
Good idea NLV...so let's play that one out...parents of children who still are falling below standards will go to private schools IF they'll let them in and IF they want to provide the additional assistance it will take to bring these kids up to par. Because of course, we can't have THOSE kids bringing down our test scores or NO ONE will want to bring their kids here! So who, now that public school is competing and does NOT have to pick up every child regardless of ability, picks up those kids? Let's see...we'll open a "special school" for those kids and VIOLA it's the 1950's ALL over again! Everyone's segregated and everyone's happy!
sheilacatherine, that's a good point, but isn't that issue pretty easy to address? If schools want to qualify for public funds, they have to adjust their tuition structure for those kids (sliding scale based on income, maybe?) and they can't discriminate based on performance, or any protected class (obviously). They should obviously have the right to expel a student for behavioral issues, but there should be pretty clear rules around that so that the schools aren't just making up problems in order to boot out the low performing students.
Some schools will specialize in special-ed, some will focus on life skills, etc. Transportation would need to be provided, which is an expense, but I think it's worth it.
I'm sure there are other issues that will need to be addressed, but it doesn't mean the overall idea is flawed. We obviously need to do SOMETHING drastic, since the current strategy is a failure, whatever the reason.
Smarter people than me have better ideas, but I don't really care for the concept of throwing out an entire solution simply because a part of it is flawed, when it seems like it could pretty easily be fixed.
I pulled my kids last year from private. Now I have to work a little harder at home cause the public is not as accountable. BUT thanks to everyone out there for spending all your hard earned money educating my 5 kids!
with a voucher for 1/2, I would put them back. As it stands - You guys pay for it!
even private schools are not immune to the laws of capitalism.
times are good, people have money = people send their kids to private schools.
times are bad, people have no money = people send their kids to public schools.
if public education was a business, it would have been shut down years ago for producing a bad product. but as long as they suck your tax dollars, it stays in business.
i've met high school graduates that can't find the area of a rectangle.
Consider the case of Washington D.C. where per pupil funding is $20,000 and still among one of the lowest performing school districts in the country. I was educated in Clark County, albeit from the prior years where one still got a quality education at Clark County. Average per pupil spending is roughly $7,000 (www.ccsd.net)and even I know that a voucher for $4,000 frees up $3,000 to be spent elsewhere. I'm sorry that the bulk of our teachers have to deal with the parenting duties of children that lazy, unmotivated, and insolent. However, you know that "bad" children are the caveats of the teaching profession. Like any college grads and undergrads, you hope that the rewards would somehow outweigh the risk. A teacher in CCSD gets $40,000 right out of college for teaching 9 months of the year and more for year round. 20% of your salary goes into a publicly paid pension that vests in five years. Teachers are not underpaid. You went into the teaching profession aware of all the risks and rewards.
Didn't the newspaper report some time ago that Faith Lutheran School had a drug problem with their students/sports players??
$17,846 ? You have to be kidding me. And this is a crappy for-profit school run by a private equity firm. Sen your kids to parochial school instead.
Teacher:
I'd love to know where you are working. My child would not be allowed within 10 miles of your school
I challenge you to post your name, and the name of the school where you work.
You call people 'ignorant'...well- TEACH. No wonder why you'd think the kids won't listen to you, if all you do is call names. I learned that was not a nice thing to do, even BEFORE I entered the School System!
You have the nerve to blast people who aren't up to YOUR standards of required age, wealth and education?
If you are the average teacher in Las Vegas-It makes me wonder why in the Hello I spend ANY time, defending Teachers.
If your Union gave you the ability to strike, what would YOU strike for? Re-segregation of your classes, by the Parents' net income? (Here's hoping that is your ONLY prejudicial wont.)
"Oh, lord, and here's another Einstein who believes what they read in the Review-Journal. Yes, planet Earth is calling. You might want to try landing your brain here for a while before you make ignorant comments."
I can hear you saying that, to a student...and claiming that you are being fired unjustly.
"They believe teachers should private tutor kids who are lazy and won't do a bit of homework, who won't listen in class, who are frequently absent, etc"
I'd be happy to put aside a few tax dollars, for your English and Composition tutoring. I'm sure a few other parents would agree with me.
Make a note of it, Kids- Today, I stand here before you all, utterly gob-smacked.
By privatizing all public schools, you instantly rid the system of an obsolete system, the labor union.
I see where you are going Improve but consider this...one of the reasons public ed. IS hampered by NCLB is that we ARE publicly funded. You take Federal dollars, you follow Federal rules. If a private school begins to accept Federal funds, I can assure you the mandates will follow. There are plenty of lawyers who will see that they do and then where are you? You will be told that a "special education" school is discriminatory (and here I must agree) and violates the rights of the special education student. You will be told you cannot remove a child from school as he has the right to be educated in the least restrictive environment. Vouchers sound great but they come with the same ball and chain that public ed. has long been dragging along....
This last comment is so stupid because who the heck wants to study in Sweden? If I was wanting to study (a)broad, I'd study on an isle in the Tahiti chain.
I agree with the teacher.... Because of the economy I have done some substitute teaching, and let me tell you...If you are not in the Las Vegas classrooms you have no idea what teachers are dealing with..these children don't give a kitty, and it's obvious that there are no consequences for that actions on the homefront...they are buckwild!!!!!!!
Sweden is a socialist country where the people are enslaved by their government? No thanks. Tahiti is a free enterprise zone and much better climate, with a zero suicidal rate.
I'm sorry, but not all students are like that - a lot of children love to learn. It's really hard on parents as well as students when they get burnt out teachers - (see above rants) When teachers get burnt out, the kids get the short end of the stick. Please teacher, quit and go do something else, the children don't need you in the classroom. I'm sure you're a horrible, uninspiring, uncaring, teacher at this point. Who knows? Perhaps you're the one we got stuck with last year - demeaning to the students when you're supposed to inspire...
FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!
REMOVE PUBLIC AND TAXATION CONTROL OF THE EDUCATION SERVICES AND STOP ROBBING PEOPLE LIKE STEVE WYNN TO PAY FOR THESE PROGRAMS!!!
Privatize and DEREGULATE the system for COMPETITION, CHOICE, FLEXIBLITY, AND PROFIT DRIVEN INNOVATION!!!!
SOMEDAY THIS WILL HAPPEN HOPEFULLY AS 17 YEAR OLD FROM ORANGE COUNTY, CA WHEN I WILL START A MASSIVE REVOLUTION IN THE VALLEY!!!!
I would suspect that parents who expect the school system to do it all are also people who expect the government to care for them instead of taking responsibility for themselves.
Per-pupil expenditures for the ccsd is about $13,000 IF you include the cost of building new schools and such. Officially reported cost is $7,175 for CC. If you allowed parents to take that 7K and enroll their students wherever they wanted, I think a lot more people would now be able to afford private school. This would definitely raise student achievement and increase competition among schools. We should also have some sort of national or even international testing to make sure students are performing up to par with their peers across the country and the world. Then the school system should fail every student who does not meet the standards and force them to take the class they failed again. I know teachers always like to complain about "TEACHING TO THE TEST", but i don't know any other way to gauge what students have learned. I mean, obviously you cant teach to the test in art or something like that, but there should be standards for math, english, foreign language, and reading. We should also end free busing, mamke the kids get to school some other way; i.e. biking, walking, CAT, carpooling,segway. However, the biggest innovation in education is online learning. I took a math course online from a company called ALEKS and I loved it. You could actually get help with every problem, not just a crappy example from the book or teacher that only covers one problem, then youre stuck figuring out how to do ones similar to it but still different and confusing. I could learn on my own time, and I found that I learned really fast and and it was so easy and enjoyable. Online education is the future and we should speed up its implementation. Online learning is cheaper and has been shown to produce better results. for example, the florida online education system is excellent and students enrolled in it get better grades than face to face learning. It is just more personalized. Not to mention that if we got rid of thousands of teachers and bureaucrats we could have the lowest tax rate in the country. Only 34% of the ccsd budget goes to instruction. THE REST IS BUREAUCRACY!!! ccsd employs more than ONE FULL TIME STAFF MEMBER FOR EVERY TEN STUDENTS ENROLLED!!! THIS IS MADNESS!!!
I notice that 'Teacher' is absent.
if kids don't want to learn and their parents don't care kick them out or put them in some alternative education. there are kids in high school that don't have a chance to graduate and don't care. they just take up space and the teachers time.
"Yes, planet Earth is calling. You might want to try landing your brain here for a while before you make ignorant comments."
Teacher's comment was right on the money. Too many parents just don't give a shuck about their kid's education. To blame it on teachers or the union is absurd.
I liked the photo that introduced this piece because I've walked that empty hall at the end of an exhausting day of living the dream. Packin' a bundle, a ream, of grading, lesson plan book and some reading down the well-swept hall, hollow with my tired steps alone.
I've gotten emails about the lawyer's kid who got an A minus and I need to explain to Mr. Big precisely who I think I am and what's the matter with my reading skill.
I've been canned for shooting off my mouth about something that needed to be fixed.
And through several decades of leading chillun (and college kids, university students and adults) out of caves and into the realm of control, I have seen less and less emphasis on rigor and self-determined scholastic development.
If learning for its own self - to stimulate and gratify - ahem - is not the reason we really gobble new info, then I'm nuts. But you can tell by the intensity of devoted attention exactly how engaged a learner is.
Today kids don't give much of a hoot because they see their lives as zero sum games. Just another quickie in a nano-second world. They play the hand they're dealt oblivious to the notion that their strengths lie in curiosity coming from within, adapting, mastering and enjoying the ride.
What I see is people turning over cards and going through the motions, as if acquiescing to submission of autonomy, human passion, drive and purpose for tasteless video pablum and worthless, time-wasting, warehousing schools bent on destruction of the desire to learn.
Lip service is the consummate slap heard round the classrooms.
I have seen the best minds of my g..
I see "Mr. I love to hear (read) myself drone on and on and on and on and on....." is back.
Re:sandm:
"20% of your salary goes into a publicly paid pension"
I don't know where you get that figure; it's about 6 percent.
My prop taxes are killing me so I'm glad more colossal cuts are coming to UNLV, UCLA, and LAUSD. Today's kids obviously aren't the future--they will be in such huge debt on their credit cards and student loans that they won't be paying for anybody's benefits.
One of the best schools in this state is Beacon Academy of Nevada..... Each child gets a fantastic education from fully state-certified teachers.... the only catch is that the student MUST commit to his/her studies.... and that means that parents must be actively involved in their child's education. If parents can't do that, then please keep your kids in public schools. Beacon doesn't want those kids in its school. BTW - the school is ABSOLUTELY FREE.
Of course the cost of capital is not included in the annual cost per pupil in our state. The state contributes NOTHING for the construction of schools here. That is paid for by District bonds. Once the money is used to build a school, it is paid for. It is thus a one time fixed expense. Many of our private and parochial school's buildings are funded with donations. This includes Faith Lutheran and Meadows. Therefore the tuition is not used to pay for the buildings either. This is why you have to compare apples to apples by looking at actual variable costs per pupil.
Just another quick note. The vast majority of CCSD students are successful. They work hard, get their education and go to college. Many become doctors, lawyers, teachers, and many other occupations. AS a former CCSD student, I did quite well with my life and earned a Doctorate. It does happen-even to kids who went to those terrible public schools all their lives!