FINANCE
Committee chair: John Freedman
Members: Jeff Bovee, Peggy Fisher, Archie Harris, Joan Oxenholt, Mike Schwartz
We believe that faith, faithfulness, financial integrity and a lot of hard work will pay off. We ask you to consider 10 different areas for further work:
- Endowments—We need our local schools, academies and universities, conferences, unions and divisions to work on long-term funding solutions for education.
- Donations and Development—We must emphasize close donor relations and customer service, develop strong resources for development work from alumni and other support groups.
- Stewardship—Hire an NPUC Stewardship Director to develop a unionwide financial literacy plan that increases the tithe base by 10 percent annually. Tithe increases would help fund education needs.
- Tithe Reversion for Ethnic Churches—A 2 percent tithe reversion to ethnic churches with low per capita tithe, earmarked for helping to send children from those churches to Adventist schools with the NPUC matching the 2 percent.
- Enrollment Increases—Help our parents think of and plan for private education early with education savings accounts invested with the conference or NPUC.
- Facilities—Encourage funding of depreciation within school budgets for campus upgrades that also assist in recruitment.
- Leadership and Financial Training—Annually train school personnel in best budgeting practices, best collection practices, financial ratios and depreciation.
- Trusts and Wills—Provide Adventist education brochures as a resource for conference trust departments to explain the benefits of investing in the future of our children.
- Central Purchasing—Consider the implications of outsourcing meal purchases at our academies and centrally distributing supplies.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:28 am
I was reading the article about School tuition and I have to add my two cents worth.
My twin daughters attend an Adventist school as 10th graders. Our bill comes in at $1,200 a month. For me there is a CHOICE to pay tithe or my school bill.
It tears me up as I feel I am cheating my GOD of his money, however since my husband had been laid off from his job 10 months ago (the main bread winner in our house and his unemployment ran out 4 months ago) it has been increasingly difficult for me to even pay the mortgage, insurance, utilities and the one car payment we have from my income.
So now until he gets another job the stress and worry that I may have to have my girls attend a dangerous public school scares me.
I know there is a cost to run our Schools and I accept those costs. I want our children to attend our Adventist Schools. I feel it’s their right as Adventist members.
I think we should always have a plan to save for a rainy day; however we have used all of ours up trying to meet our daily needs. The LORD has blessed us with a wonderful church family that has helped us with food and we love them for that.
The school is a whole different issue. I believe we should make sure that ALL ADVENTIST children are eligible to attend our schools regardless of the financial situation. That as a CHURCH is our responsibility and we will have to account for this to the LORD when he returns. I am hoping that more of our children will not have to drop out because of money issues.
July 4th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
My children completed SDA education through college. I believe strongly in it.
In Gleaner article does a good job in summarizing the problem and presenting some potential solutions.
The “At The Crossroads” article made the statement that “the growing perception is that a 12-grade Adventist education is gradually slipping beyond the financial means of all but a fraction of our members.” Is that perception or reality?
The churches that I have belonged to in the past 20 years have struggled greatly with funding their portion of Christian education. When they finish paying their portion, there is virtually nothing left to perform the mission of the local church..i.e. is to take the gospel…to their local area. No where in Scripture do I read that the mission of the Christian or the church is the education of young prople. The mission is to take the gospel into all the world. Yes, Christian education is targeted at the redemption of OUR young people, but when only 50% of them are in Christian schools, we are miissing the mark.
I hear church members in various local churches talk about the difficulty and near impossibility of making their local budgets. The idea of expanding their facilities or building new ones to accomodate growth is out of the question for most of these churches. However, I read in the Gleaner about local conferences and the North Pacific Union building grand new headquarters buildings.
I believe that the leadership of the North Pacific Union and it’s conferences and their counterparts around North America as well as the North American Division will be serious about addressing the financial issues
associated with Christian education when they dramatically downsize their infrastructures and reprioritize how resources are used. Then and only then should local members and churches be asked to provide more funding.
There is a credibility gap that must be closed.
July 4th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
John: Actually, comparing reality with perception, the “grand new headquarters” for conferences (as you describe them) are in most cases significantly downsized from previous facilities, reflecting a responsive adjustment to our church priorities. Beyond that small point, thank you for adding some critical points to the discussion and helping to raise the vision.
July 17th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I think in the future the only option for our children will be to homeschool. It is sad, but honestly by the time our daughter is ready for high school, I am sure our local SDA high school will be nearly $10,000 a yr. We have two children and there is no possible way for our family to afford that kind of money. It is a issue I am glad the conf is talking through now, but I am afraid it is too late. We should have been talking about this years ago….
I think only the rich or subsidized families can attend at this point. I have no idea how people can afford to pay that kind of money (it is nearly 8,000 a year now).
I think our schools need to figure out a way to make tuition a lot lower, and perhaps involve parents more so they can cut the amount of staff they have to hire? I don’t know if that would even help at this point.
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July 17th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
When my parents became Seventh-day Adventists we lived in New Mexico with no possibility of my twin sister and me attending a Christian school. My dad went to Oregon and worked on a farm sending money home. Mother sold our furniture and we moved to Bend, Oregon where there was a 10 grade school and my sister and I started school the day after Pearl Harbor. Our teacher (10th grade) made us make-up all the lessons we had missed which we did.
At the end of that school year we moved to the Hood River Valley where Mother, Dad, my sister and I worked in the orchards rain or shine because we were saving money to attend academy for our junior and senior years.
My parents sacrificed so much for our education — we had no sofa or easy chairs, Mom didn’t even have a refrigerator because the money went first to the church (tithe and offering) then to the school with little left over for food and clothes.
At graduation time we were able to march up but we didn’t get our deplomas until our bill was paid off later that summer. That kept us from starting school at Walla Walla until the second quarter. (We had to earn our entrance fee after paying off the academy). While at home we worked in the orchards and cannery with all our money except tithe, going to the college.
How thankful I am for all that sacrifice because I met my husband there. My sister and I and both our husbands have retired from educational work.
Has the cost of Christian education gone up that much or is it the unwillingness of parents to sacrifice that much for their children?
I’ve been disappointed with the lowering of standards of our schools but they are still better than public schools.
As a parent who has “been there and done that” I’d like to tell the parents that NO sacrifice is too great for your children. It takes every bit of faith and lots of prayers to give them a chance in this world and we most certainly want them to be able to spend eternity with our Lord.
Keep looking up because Jesus is coming back for us soon.
July 21st, 2007 at 11:31 am
Your article focuses on those that can’t afford Adventist education and the fact that we are losing their children or tithe. It doesn’t mention the vast numbers of the best and brightest in the church that sadly choose other education options for their children because the Adventist schools are so poor compared to other private options. These parents are paying $10,000-$20,000 a year on tuition. Some without blinking an eye and others by stretching their budget on a monthly basis. They do it because they see their children as their best investment. If those parents could happily choose instead to send their kids to Adventist schools because that was the best school choice and invested in the infrastructure and teachers, think of what a difference it could make! Of dedicated professional Adventist families I know, only around a fourth are choosing Adventist education for their kids. A few are homeschooling or in gifted programs in the public schools. The rest are paying more on tuition, not less.
I feel that the tuition should be doubled or tripled, whatever it takes to turn our schools back into the magnet that they once were. Offer substantial financial aid to those who can’t afford the higher tuition but don’t shortchange the shool and the kids that are there. Make sure the school leadership is made up of youthful, vigorous, creative and highly educated professional thinkers that are given the budget to make improvements happen and to use the money wisely.
The only bright spot I have seen in Adventist education recently is Orcas Christian School. The facilities are lovely and well maintained. The teachers are bright, creative and empowered to really teach. The school is embraced and supported by the local church but is also attended by non-Adventists and is appreciated throughout the community for its quality and heart. It has vision and a substantial financial investment.
One final comment. I dislike the current system of differing tuition amounts. We pay taxes to support kids going to the public schools, yet we don’t benefit from it. Through our church we support an Adventist school that is far away and that we don’t attend so we don’t benefit from it. Our daughter does go to an Adventist school 15 minutes from home (when there is no traffic) and on the way to work. Yet we pay extra because our church is not a constituent church. I feel that there should be one tuition amount. If you want to offer a discount to those from a constituent church, do it in the form of a stipend or scholarship rather than discouraging non-adventists and those from other churches with higher fees right up front.