Dear Families:
Welcome back and Happy 2022! I hope your holidays were filled with peace, joy and relaxation. I know they were filled with a good amount of snow! It’s nice to be back in our regular routine and we look forward to calmer weather and lots of learning ahead.
January is a very busy time at school. Planning for the 2022-23 school year is in full swing. We are just completing the final recommendations for the 8th graders’ applications to high school as we prepare for PreK and Kindergarten Information Night for our incoming students. The end of the month marks the beginning of our celebration of Catholic Schools’ Week. We are keeping a close an eye on the Covid numbers to see if it is possible to gather in-person for any events. We know that due to the Omicron variant, we will not be able to hold our State of the School for parents (January 12th and 19th) or our Grandparents’ Day Mass, scheduled for February 2nd. Let’s hope that we move quickly through this wave of the virus so we can assemble once again.
Next Monday, January 10th begins our re-enrollment cycle for the 2022-23 school year. We will again be using our online application process through SchoolAdmin for a second year. One of the issues we experienced last year is that SchoolAdmin is an individual student-based registration program whereas FACTS is a family-based tuition program. It was difficult for families navigating between the two management systems, especially in relation to our re-enrollment fee. This year, we are moving to a per student re-enrollment fee versus a family fee. This should clear up any complications with proceeding from SchoolAdmin to a family’s FACTS account for re-enrollment completion.
Tuition for the 2022-23 school year will be increasing by 5.5%. Last year, due to Covid and the unknown impact it would have on family financial situations and through discussions with the School Commission, we made a commitment to increasing tuition by only 3%. We knew that the effect would be a larger increase for this year. Due to the success of our fundraising and annual fund campaigns, we are able to keep the increase below the projected inflation rate of 6.2% (November 2021). Over the two-year span, our tuition has increase at a 4.2% average.
Over 80% of our budget is directed to teachers’ salaries and benefits. We are committed to paying teachers at the base level on the Seattle School District scale. This does not include the additional monies that our public-school counterparts earn as part of their negotiated union contract for assigned duties. We have an outstanding and dedicated staff and we feel a deep responsibility to pay them a just salary. The 5.5% tuition increase will assure that we can fulfill our pledge to keeping them on the district scale.
Tuition and fees for the 2022-23 school year will be:
Registration/re-enrollment fee: $225 per student
PreKindergarten tuition: $7375 (an increase of $35 per month)
Kindergarten – 8th grade In-parish tuition: $9854 (an increase of $51.40 per month)
Kindergarten – 8th grade Out-of-parish tuition $12,350 (an increase of $64.30 per month)
Finally, as our days start to get longer, spring can’t be far off and our annual “fun”-raiser of the year is set for April 30th. Huge thanks to long-time parents, Ester and Kevin Burkhart and Kim Tossman and Sean Matt for stepping up to chair this year’s auction. We are so fortunate to have their enthusiasm and organization as we get set to, “Marvel at the Possibilities”. Watch for opportunities to become involved and join the auction committee via email later this month. Let’s make this the best auction ever!
Have a great week!
Mary
