Starting Your Own School

Hello:

We’re settling into classic Vancouver weather – rain! However, I’m on a positive roll as our Vancouver Canucks hockey team is on a 3 game winning streak (though they’re still 1 point out of the playoffs and 1/3 through the season). As a family, we’re wrapping up our 2 kid’s school week before the holiday break with our son’s school performance on Thursday and our daughter’s choral performance on Friday at a beautiful downtown church.

Though our firm is working with clients in Central America, Shanghai, Cairo, and Saudi Arabia, we’re slowing things down next week as we spend time with our family and enjoy Vancouver’s holiday sites.

HEG is a consortium of internationally recognized educators and business professionals with first-hand experience in starting and operating private schools in the four corners of the globe. We’ve helped public and private schools, major corporations, and institutions maximize their organization’s performance and achieve their vision of starting their own for- or non-profit private school; be it one school or part of a planned land development project in a new city.

Our web site receives over 200 hits a day from clients seeking advice on starting a school, and each time we share with them the sequence of steps that need to taken in consideration to start a sustainable school. Today I want to continue that conversation and share with you tips on developing your own private school.

To your success,

Doug Halladay

President

Halladay Education Group

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P.S. Don’t forget to go to our secure Online Store to invest in our Strategic Planning or School Start-Up Toolkits

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IN THIS ISSUE

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1. In The News

2. Solutions For Your School

3. Tips on Developing Your Own Private School

4. Products At Our Online Store

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1. IN THE NEWS

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>> REGENTS PUSH FOR 200 MORE CHARTER SCHOOLS

New York Daily News: The Regents Board also wants to provide more funding for charter schools, link teacher evaluations to student test scores and allow private management …

>> FLU-HIT PRIVATE SCHOOLS SHOULD REDUCE FEES

Gulf Daily News: I HAVE a daughter who is four years old and she has been attending a private nursery in Bahrain since April 2008. As you may know, the private schools ...

>> NEW SCHOOL TO KEEP ENVIRONMENT IN MIND

San Diego Union Tribune: By Bruce Lieberman Pacific Ridge, a private school, is building a new environmentally friendly high school with aggressive energy efficiency standards…

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2. SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR SCHOOL

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(A) STARTING A SCHOOL

Starting a school can be challenging and you never have a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression. That’s why you need a turn-key firm with experience starting schools in the USA, Canada, and Internationally

(B) STRATEGIC PLANNING

We can lead the development of your school’s Strategic Plan, which will build consensus, motivate donors, and define critical priorities for your Board and Administration for school improvement. No school should be without one.

(C) BOARD GOVERNANCE WORKSHOP

Do you want your school to have the best board possible? Great schools have great boards (can you afford not to have one?). Our full-day governance workshop (in combination with our unique online self-assessment survey) fine-tunes your board’s performance and annual priorities.

(D) SCHOOL EVALUATIONS

A school review is critical to knowing if you’re heading in the right direction. As a board member, are you sure your school is doing the best it can? Get the whole picture now with our “In-Depth School Performance Review and Action Plan.”

(E) BUYING AND SELLING SCHOOLS

HEG and our certified Brokerage Associates assist buyers/sellers with the purchase and sale of for-profit Private K-12 Schools, Post Secondary Institutions, and Career Colleges in Canada, US, and Internationally. HEG and our Licensed Brokers are experienced in acquisitions, mergers, and advising established schools.

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3. Tips on Developing Your Own Private School

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I’ve the pleasure of chatting with 5-7 groups a week about their plans to start a private school. And they come in all types, locations, and sizes. People always ask me if HEG and our team have ever started a school with a XXX programs in XXX location. In many cases we have, but more than likely we’ve not developed that specific educational program in that location or country. And truth be told, it doesn’t really matter what your location or unique educational program is. Agreed, our team has developed and led private K-12 schools and post secondary institutions in all 4 corners of the world and for a variety of programs (special needs, single gender, equestrian, boarding, international, ESL, preparatory, K-12, high school, allied health, technology, and more), yet there still may be a program or location we’ve not worked with.

However, with our experience in starting schools, HEG is well suited and experienced to lead the development of your private school from the ground up and the subsequent operation and management of your institution upon opening. By utilizing our quality controls and in-depth experience developing world-class schools, we ensure proper planning, development, and operation of your institution, delivery of a first-class curriculum, and assurance that your school will provide sustainable returns to your investors and sound finances for your foundation.

We view the school formation process like building the foundation of your school ‑ establishing the fundamental building blocks of your school’s vision and philosophy before committing resources and capital to build the school. Our feasibility study and business plan are the backbone of the planning process for your founding team and/or investors. It illuminates the opportunity, program requirements, demand, timelines, facility needs, leadership, start-up costs, operational budget, ROI, and investment structure.

SCHOOL FORMATION PROCESS:

There no cut-and-dry sequence to developing your private school. However, there are a set of milestones you need to cover when starting your school, including:

Step 1: Develop the Purpose and Direction of your School

Determine the type of school your community needs and will support, as well as what you want you as parents want (e.g., K-7, 8-12, day, boarding, single gender, IB, Montessori, Preparatory). This will include your mission/vision statements, core values, and educational philosophy. Ask parents and community leaders for their opinions.

Step 2: Form a Steering Committee

Form a small working committee of capable, dedicated cohorts to set in motion the critical work you need to complete. Include parents and highly respected community stakeholders with financial, legal, management, and building experience to support the process. Ask for and get a commitment from each member as this is important work that’ll demand much of each member's time and energy.

Step 3: Incorporation & Tax Exemption

File incorporation papers with the appropriate Province or State agency. The lawyer on your Steering Committee should be deal with this. By establishing incorporation, it will limit liability in the case of lawsuits, present a stable image, extend the life of the school beyond the founders, and provide an insurable entity for the school. A 3rd party lawyer should always be consulted.

Step 4: Complete a Feasibility Study and Business Plan

This will be your blue print of how the school is going to operate over its first five years. This is your chance to lay out, step-by-step, the process for the sequential development of the school. You will determine the enrollment and financial projections, and prioritize the staffing, programs, facilities, in a methodical, measurable fashion, and the start-up costs and budget.

Step 5: Develop a Budget

Develop a five-year budget based on the demand of the Feasibility Plan. This is a comprehensive review of the projected revenues (AR) and expenses (AP). The financial person(s) on your Steering Committee should take responsibility for developing this important plan. As always project your assumptions conservatively and factor in a contingency should the financial reality change from the projections. You should also map out the school’s bookkeeping procedures (e.g., record keeping, check signing, disbursements, petty cash, bank accounts, record keeping, reconciling bank accounts, audit committee) and accounting cycles.

Step 6: Fundraising

You need to plan your fundraising case and campaign carefully so that you build momentum yet are able to keep pace with actual funding needs. Your business plan is important at this stage as it provides potential donors concrete evidence of your vision and where the donor can fit it. Of course, it will also drive your enrollment as parent’s see how their child fits in.

Step 7: Select the School Location & Resources

Locate a facility to accommodate the school (purchase or rent) or develop a building master plan if you will be building your own facility from the ground up. The Building Committee member(s) should spearhead this assignment. Check requirements of local social and health services, building and zoning, health record-keeping, class size, food service, fire code, building code, and teacher-student ratios, etc. You should also take into consideration the learning resources, furniture, computers, etc. needed for start-up. In addition, you will need to begin thinking about the outdoor environment and natural habitat. Rental space for the classroom is frequently obtained from schools, churches, park buildings, community centers, apartment complexes, private school buildings, nursery schools, and estate mansions.

Step 8: Hire Key Staff Members

Through a search process you select your Head of School and your Business Manager (or sub-contract a local accountant to deal with AP / AR). Conduct your search as widely as possible. Write job descriptions, benefits, and pay scales for your staff and subsequent faculty and administrative positions. You will be looking for self-starters who enjoy building something from scratch. Your Head will drive the enrollment campaign, marketing and promotions, and the initial decisions of classroom-based resources and staffing.

Step 9: Marketing

At this stage you need to begin to aggressively market for students. Members of the Steering Committee and Head need to devise a Marketing Plan to promote the new school. This may include: public meetings, newspaper ads and inserts, mail drops, radio, community TV, and coffee sessions. You will also need to design your brochure, communication materials (e.g., business cards, letterhead), web site, and set up a mailing list to keep interested parents and donors in touch with your progress.

Step 10: Open Your Doors

Open the school office and phones, and have the Head of School begin admissions interviews and tours of your facilities. Acquire insurance protection against business interruption, liability, boiler malfunction, building casualties, etc.

Step 11: Select Faculty & Support Staff

It’s critical to attract capable faculty; in the end it’s the staff that’ll make or break the school – reputations can be formed so quickly in a new school environment. To attract great staff you need to ensure that they buy into the vision and have a competitive compensation package. Also, you need to develop the Staff Handbook, contracts, and structure for personnel files. While it’s still a year from the school opening, line up as many faculty and senior leadership positions as you can.

Step 12: Orient & Train Faculty

Have faculty in place and get your school ready for opening. The first year at a new school requires endless meetings and planning sessions for the academic staff. Get your teachers on the job no later than August 1 in order to be prepared for opening day.

Step 13: Opening Day

Welcome your students and parents! Begin your traditions. Explore membership in national, provincial, and state private school associations! Start off with a bang. Have dignitaries there to cut the ribbon, have a family BBQ; make it special.

If you'd like to read the overview for each of our school formation services, please click here.

Go to our Online Store and invest in our School Formation Toolkit.

To find out more about our firm’s school formation services, or learn more about how we can help provide you solutions, please email HEG at info@halladayeducationgroup.com to discuss your needs in more detail.

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4. ONLINE STORE

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Here are 2 popular Toolkits to help you to either start your own school or develop your own strategic plan, step-by-step.

(1). STRATEGIC PLANNING TOOLKIT (#1 BEST SELLER)

Learn how to develop your own Strategic Plan with step-by-step instructions contained in our detailed Workbook and Manual, along with $500 worth of bonus CD’s. It’s all here to help you develop your own plan.

(2). START-A-SCHOOL TOOLKIT (#2 BEST SELLER)

Are you still struggling with starting your school? Four experienced school leaders share how they started their own school from the ground up. You’ll also receive our bonus CD on developing your strategic plan.

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To your success,

Douglas Halladay

President

Halladay Education Group Inc.