Private School Business Plan

Hello Inner Circle Member:

I do not know about you, but I am just coming down from this weeks inauguration activities. As a Canadian I am looking forward to the new President and his vision for the future. If you know Canadians, that is about as political as we get.

Please do not ask about our Vancouver Canuck hockey team though. They are setting a new standard for apathy. They have now lost 7 games in a row and set a record for consecutive home game losses. Thankfully the All Start Break is here, so we do not have to expose ourselves to anymore of their hockey for a week.

Though the following quote was written many years ago, it has many links to the inaugural speech of Mr. Obama from Tuesday and his reference to what is required of us now in a new era of responsibility.

Here is the quote of the day.

Nothing of great value in life comes easily. The things of highest value sometimes come hard. The gold that has the greatest value lies deepest in the earth, as do the diamonds.

Norman Vincent Peale
1898-1993, Pastor, Speaker and Author

I received an email last week from an Inner Circle member, Marianne, who asked what needs to be considered when developing a business plan for a new school. Today, Bill Wan, an HEG Executive Associate, and an author of +25 business plans for new schools, will provide input into what you need to consider.

To your success,

Doug Halladay

President and Founder
Halladay Education Group Inc.
www.HalladayEducationGroup.com

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In This Issue
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1. In The News

2. Developing a Business Plan for a New School

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1. In The News
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ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF BROOKLYN TO CLOSE MORE SCHOOLS
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn is planning to close about fourteen more schools. This is in addition to the twenty-two schools shut in 2005 and seven more since then....


ECONOMY HITTING PRIVATE SCHOOLS HARD
Lost jobs mean parents can't afford tuition just as big donors pull back because of their stock market losses. While public schools brace for bad news from state politicians because of the budget deficit, private schools already have gotten word from their own chief funders -- the parents of their students...

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2. Developing a Business Plan for a New School
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Hi Marianne,

Thank you for taking the time to contact our firm. Included below are some pointers that may be meaningless to a non accounting person. However, if you have some accounting training, your can contact our Executive Associate, Bill Wan directly to get some pointers or clarification.

It is hard to give out information on such a complicated subject, but here are some pointers to develop a business plan for a private school provided by Bill Wan.

1. Brain storm and list all the set up costs for starting a school. Once you add up all the costs, the sum will be the amount you need to start the school. Set up costs will include building renovation costs if the building is already there, but may need modification to bring it up to code requirements. If the land has to be purchased and building has to be constructed, then such costs should be included. Other set up costs include marketing, consulting services, instructional resources needed to teach the programs, temporary rent for an admission office, etc.
2. Then you should prepare an initial budget for the school for the first year of operation. To do this you need to estimate the number of students for each grade level the school will have in its first year. Once you have the number of students projected for the first year, you can then estimate the number of teachers you will need. With the projected student information, you can calculate how much tuition fees you can generate by multiplying the prevailing tuition fees charged by other competing schools in your regions to the number of students you estimated in each grade level. You can also calculate how much payroll you need to pay teachers (and benefits) by multiplying the average annual teacher salaries in your city to the number of teachers you need.
3. Then you need to calculate the classroom and instructional supplies you need for the school year by using a standard average costs for such programs. Depending on the programs being taught in the school, you may use something like $200 per student to estimate such expenses.
4. After calculating the budget for tuition fees and payroll, you have to calculate other overhead costs. If you are purchasing your own land and building, then you have to calculate the mortgage payments for the land and construction costs for the building you need. If you are renting, then you just have to include the rent. You also have to estimate ancillary expenses such as the costs of operating a few school buses for student pick up, field trips etc. Other costs such as financing charges for the loans need to pay for the set up costs. Repair and maintenance, janitorial, fundraising expenses and other costs have to be included. Also, expenses such as professional development for teaching staff, travel costs for team competition and other special costs have to be addressed as well.
5. Once you have done the first year budget, then you can do the same for the second year and third year etc. You have to adjust the budget for each subsequent year as it will change due to the increase in the number of students. That is if the school starts with Grade 1 to 7 in year one. It will have to add one Grade 8 in year two with x number of students. So you have to adjust the number of teachers and per student costs for instructional supplies etc. I would recommend you do at least a 5-year cash flow projection for the school. You should bear in mind that as the school grows and number of student increases, the rent or mortgage payment has to increase to accommodate the number of students if the existing physical plant reaches its capacity. That normally happens for most new school within the first three years. So that would mean more fundraising and more loans needed to increase the physical plant. This also means more rent and mortgage payments in later years that you hopefully can offset by the increase in tuition fees due to increase in enrolment.
6. You also have to include the financing charges in each year and bearing in mind that the cash will be needed to pay loan payment and interest charges for each year. Some loans may have interest rate increases over the years so that has to be addressed to in your projection. There are other costs and factors to consider and it depending on the type of programs being introduced at the new school.
   

To find out more about our firm’s services and how we can help, you can click on and download a PDF of our firm’s detailed School Formation Services, staff bio’s, and recent school formation projects. Click here.

If you would like more information on how we can help you develop a private school business plan for a new school, please email HEG at info@halladayeducationgroup.com to set up a time to chat about your needs.

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To your success,

Douglas Halladay
President and Founder

Halladay Education Group Inc.

P: 604.868.0002 / F: 868.472.8737 / Email: info@halladayeducationgroup.com
www.HalladayEducationGroup.com

P.S. Do not forget to check out our secure Online Store for ways to invest in improving or starting your own school or non-profit. Click on this link:

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