By KEVIN D. THOMPSON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 10:10 p.m. Saturday, May 21, 2011
Posted: 9:47 p.m. Saturday, May 21, 2011
Four years ago, Robin DeLisser could easily afford to pay more than $20,000 in tuition for her two children to attend private school.
At the time, DeLisser, a single mother, said she was earning more than $200,000 a year running her own information technology staffing agency. But after the economy tanked, so DeLisser's income - and lifestyle.
To make ends meet, DeLisser, 34, traded in her 2006 BMW for a 1997 Jeep Wrangler. She moved from her three-bedroom Boca Raton home, where her monthly mortgage was $2,500, to a $1,500-a-month, two-bedroom townhome in Delray Beach.
What hurt most of all, DeLisser said, was pulling her two children - Dillan, now 9, and Kaelyn, now 8 - out of Summit Private School in Boca Raton and enrolling them in S.D. Spady Elementary, a public school in Delray Beach.
"It was extremely difficult to take them out," DeLisser said. "Summit offered a loving and nurturing environment."
After 24 years in business, financial problems are forcing Summit to close at the end of the current school year.
The tales of DeLisser and, to some extent, Summit are becoming familiar in Palm Beach County.
Endowments, donations falling
According to the U.S. Department of Education, private school enrollment dropped by about 174,000 from 2006 to 2010 while public school enrollment increased by 718,000.
Operating a private school in a recession has become an increasing challenge as more belt-tightening parents pull their children out of school. Hefty private school tuitions that can run as high as $22,000 are often the first to go from a family's budget.
Schools also face anemic endowments and dwindling donations.
"This recession has been a game-changer," said Barbara Hodges, executive director of the Florida Council of Independent Schools, a professional education association in Tampa. "There are new norms. We went through a period where Americans had extra income, but that period has ended."
The King's Academy, a pre-kindergarten-through-12th-grade school in suburban West Palm Beach, has seen its student enrollment drop from 1,377 in 2007 to 1,230 for the 2010-2011 school year. Enrollment at the Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school in West Palm Beach, is 330, down about 15 percent from previous years.
"We are all suffering the same way individuals and families are suffering," said Robert Goldberg, head of school for The Benjamin School, which has campuses in North Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.
Schools 'think outside the box'
To make up for the lost tuition, private school administrators are finding creative ways to generate revenue.
Jefferson Burnett, vice president for government and community relations for the National Association of Independent Schools, an advocacy group in Washington, said schools are holding more fund-raisers, tapping endowments and even renting their facilities.
"For many of these schools, a little bit of money makes a huge difference," Burnett said.
Hodges said schools are also relying more on social media to market their schools and to help boost enrollment.
Since 2007, The King's Academy has opened two preschools in Greenacres and one each in Royal Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. That has helped generate additional revenue. A fifth preschool in Boynton Beach is scheduled to open in August.
"The good part about the recession is that it's forced us to think outside the box," said Jeff Loveland, president of The King's Academy. "This helps to offset losses and it also helps funnel kids into our elementary school. I'm not sure we would have been thinking about this if there wasn't a recession."
The preschools are providing about $850,000 a year in additional revenue, said Randy Martin, the school's chief financial officer. Much of that goes toward paying staff, making contributions to hosting preschool churches and other academic expenses.
More financial assistance sought
Not surprisingly, more families who are keeping their children in private schools are seeking financial assistance. The independent schools association reports that between 2008 and this year, the amount of financial aid awarded to families increased 36 percent. But more families are asking for money, so less aid is being awarded per student.
At the Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy, financial aid requests have gone up 20 percent, said Nammie Ichilov, the school's headmaster. To keep up with the demand, Ichilov said the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, the school's primary benefactor, has made money available to award more financial assistance per student. Ichilov declined to provide figures.
Meanwhile, schools also have been forced to make tough choices when trimming their budgets.
Two years ago, The King's Academy cut employee salaries by 2.5 percent. About 25 positions have been eliminated since 2007, 10 of which were faculty and support staff.
The Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy is evaluating how it buys supplies in order to operate more efficiently. Meyer, for example, used to offer six entrees for lunch.
"We just offer the staples now," Ichilov said. "That has reduced our operating costs."
Despite budget cuts, administrators stress they are not cutting educational programs .
The King's Academy added five advanced placement courses, online classes and lacrosse. The Benjamin School offers a program for 3-year-olds that teaches students Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, among other things.
Although private school enrollment is down slightly nationwide, not everyone is convinced the recession is to blame.
"It's tough to link fluctuation to specific causes like the recession," said Joe McTighe, executive director of the Council for American Private Education, a Maryland-based coalition serving private elementary and secondary schools. "If you look at the data over the last 10 years, it tends to fluctuate anyway from year to year. The impact of the recession on private school enrollment is very complex."
Not for DeLisser.
"I just couldn't afford it anymore," she said.
