Strategic Plan 2011

School Financial Health

Plan Goal #11: Ensure the fiscal integrity of Moorestown Friends School.

Rationale

The school’s ability to fund its operations comes primarily from tuition revenue, which comprises approximately 85% of total revenue.  Thus, the financial health of the institution and equilibrium of the school budget is very sensitive to changes in enrollment.  Increases in tuition revenue are the primary source of funding for annual incremental increases to salaries and benefits and new program expenses.

Gift income and endowment income also provide vital support for school programs.  The school depends upon philanthropic support from the MFS community.

Thanks to the achievement of goals outlined in the 2004 Strategic Plan, MFS has brought faculty salaries above the median salaries of peer schools.  MFS also maintains a high ratio of employee benefits to total compensation and benefits.  Providing competitive faculty salaries and employee benefits is a key factor in recruiting and retaining talented faculty, and it also commands a large portion of school expenses at approximately 76% of the operating budget.

Another goal achieved from the 2004 Strategic Plan has been the growth of the financial aid budget to 15% of the operating budget from a starting point of 6%.  Twenty-four percent of the total student population receives financial aid. 

The acquisition of the Greenleaf Property in 2008 has re-oriented the school’s Master Plan and provided the opportunity to address a critical shortage in classrooms and labs, which is negatively affecting the academic program.  The School Committee has developed a multi-faceted plan that includes the renovation of the South Annex to provide new classrooms, a multi-million dollar capital campaign, a planned lease for the former Acme building, financial arrangements to address the short and long-term debt associated with the property acquisitions and renovations, and the liquidation of non-strategic properties. 

In summary, the school’s budget and budget process strive to address many complementary and sometimes competing demands with limited revenue resources and limited options for incremental revenue growth.  The school’s ability to fund new programs is and will be constrained, and decisions to enhance current school programs or implement new programmatic initiatives will need to need to be carefully considered by the School Committee and administration.

Enrollment/Tuition Strategies

• Determine targets for tuitions at each division and tuition increases over the next 5 years that are sufficient to insure the school keeps pace with CPI and, at the same time, ensure that MFS stays in the range of peer schools.
• Continue to focus admissions, marketing and retention efforts to maintain and build enrollment, especially taking into account initiatives that will increase demand for preschool and prekindergarten and restore those grades to two sections.  In addition, consider the addition of 1-2 students per grade, as well as study the expansion of 7th and 8th grade by a section as demand and facilities permit.

Fundraising Strategies

• Instill a stronger culture of philanthropy at MFS and underscore the idea that all members of the MFS community should take an active part in supporting the school through philanthropy.  Track, set goals for, and publicize giving benchmarks for school constituencies.
• Increase the number of annual fund donors in Alumni and Parent categories so that participation rates are at least at the 50th percentile of Peer Schools. 
• Support initiatives that would double the size of the endowment, if feasible, by 2015. Once the Greenleaf campaign is successfully completed, a feasibility study should be conducted to prepare for the next campaign and a goal of doubling the endowment should be tested.

Compensation/Benefits Strategies

• Ensure that the school continues to provide competitive employee salaries and maintain faculty salaries at, or above, the median of our peer schools.
• Consider capping employee benefit costs at a certain percentage of total compensation.
• Continue to benchmark teacher workloads and compare MFS data to peer schools.

Financial Aid Strategies

• Sustain the socioeconomic diversity in the student body and maintain financial aid resources at 15% of gross tuition revenue.
• Seek to endow the Camden Scholarship Program to provide budget relief and to guarantee the permanence of this important MFS program.

Master Plan and Physical Resources Strategies

• Continue to fund PPRRSM (Provision for Plant Replacements, Renewal and Special Maintenance) in a disciplined and systematic way through annual budget allocations that are, at a minimum, $200,000.
• Continue to liquidate properties that are no longer strategic given the acquisition of the Greenleaf property.
• Focus on environmental sustainability and explore opportunities to reduce the school’s carbon footprint, even while air conditioning more school facilities.

Cost Containment and Revenue Strategies

• Explore new revenue generators such as those noted below in the innovative and extra-curricular programs section of the plan. 
• Implement new programs only if they can provide enough revenue to cover new costs associated with them or if the new program is substituted for an existing program making it cost-neutral.

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