Joint Parish, Finance, and School Council Meeting Minutes
June 8, 2006, 7:00 p.m., Ailbe House
Present: Father Bloom, Deacon Abel Magana, Ed Williams, Bob McLaughlin, Glen Lutz, Gary Samaniego, Berta Galaviz Alcala, Dorothy Wells Plummer, Toni Royal, Jouella Eoff, Greg Mackenzie, Marcelo Re, Ted Naff, Shelly Taylor-Kamara, Jaime Donohue, Nell Wheeler, Tom Swim, Mary French
The meeting was opened with a reading from the bible and prayer by Father Bloom at 7:05 p.m.
School Budget
Glenn Lutz presented a year to date report on the school budget for the 2005/2006 fiscal year and also the proposed budget for 2006/2007. For the current fiscal year, the school is running a deficit of $102,244; however, it was noted that a check was presented that day to the school by the Parents’ Club for $50,000, decreasing the deficit by 50%. There is also currently $20-25,000 in uncollected tuition, at least one third of which is expected to be collected by the end of the school year. Some increases in the proposed 06/07 budget are: the hiring of a part-time music teacher, changing the custodial position from part-time to full-time, and adding a “Maintenance” line-item. Some decreases in the proposed 06/07 budget are: consolidating art and technology back into the regular classrooms, thus eliminating one teaching position; hiring an entry level 2nd grade teacher who is lower in the salary scale than the previous one; and eliminating any unfunded tuition assistance. It was also noted that there would be an expected increase in the Parents’ Club subsidy from $80,000 to $90,000.
Two suggestions for increasing income were to increase student enrollment by better marketing of the school, and to join the archdiocesan “Fishes and Loaves” school pairing program in which wealthier schools are paired with poorer schools to enable a sharing of financial resources. Regarding the former suggestion, a new volunteer is remaking the school’s web-page to be more attractive to prospective families. Glen Lutz will be discussing the school pairing program with Sister Joyce Cox from the archdiocese.
Mr. Lutz also reported on the archdiocesan recommendations for teachers’ salaries and the percentage of the parish income expected to be used in subsidizing parish schools. It was noted that the recommendation for salaries was that they be 90% or higher of the State Salary Schedule for the previous year. Currently, our teachers are at 88% of the 2003/2004 State Salary Schedule, which means that an additional $50,000 would be needed to put them at the appropriate level. It was recommended that the teachers be given a 2.5% cost of living raise this year, but being aware of the financial situation of the school, the teachers and staff volunteered to stay at the present salary scale.
The archdiocese also recommends that parishes with schools should be giving 20 to 21% of their annual income to the support of the school. It was noted that our parish has, for a number of years now, been contributing at the 35 - 40% level. It was expected that we would be at this same level this year, which would mean an additional $30-$35,000 over our budgeted subsidy for the year. It was further stated that in actuality, what has been
happening is that whatever deficit the school has had at the end of the year, the parish has been covering by taking out further loans from the archdiocese. Mr. Lutz and other members of the school commission expressed their expectations that the use of automatic deductions for tuition payments for next year would significantly decrease the amount of uncollected tuition thereby decreasing the parish subsidy as well.
Parish Budget
Gary Samaniego gave a similar report for the parish budget. It was noted that a conservative approach was used concerning the projected income for the 06/07 budget. Some increases in the next year’s proposed budget include: higher Insurance, an added “Maintenance” line item to reflect the actual maintenance needs of the parish, an added part-time Date Base Management position to help ensure accurate records of all donations, the hiring of a part-time security guard for all Masses due to frequent break-ins of parked cars, and, if possible, a change in the Administrator position from part-time to full-time, though it could remain part-time if needed. It was further noted that the archdiocesan policy is to require parishes to make up for any shortfall in the Annual Catholic Appeal, which, unless we receive increased pledges in the next few weeks, could involve a $10,000 expense for the 06/07 operating budget. At the same time, it was noted that the archdiocese did give Holy Family Parish a $17,000 Home Stewardship Grant for the 05/06 fiscal year.
Capital Campaign
Mary French gave a report on the current status of the Capital Campaign. To date, we have 592 families contributing for a total of $1,227,008.06 in pledges. We have received donations totaling $561,137.28 thus far. We are running approximately $110,000 in delinquent pledges to date. Some things being done to increase the visibility of the Campaign and, hopefully, gain more pledges are: the addition of the new Campaign Visual in the vestibule listing current pledges and money received, the calling of parishioners who are behind in their pledge to find out the status of the pledge and to encourage continued donations, the instituting of New Member Receptions in order to not only welcome new members but to have the opportunity to present the Campaign materials to them, and having periodic bulletin and pulpit announcements encouraging those who have not made a pledge to do so.
Gary Samaniego further reported on the current status of the Capital Campaign projects:
1. The demolition and remodeling of the school ground floor will begin the week after school is out and will be finished by the end of the summer.
2. Bids are being sought for the replacement of the church boiler.
3. Three church doors have been refinished with three more left to do.
4. Some of the repairs to the parking lot will be made while others will not, due to being too costly.
5. The south lot, purchased in 2003, will not be able to be paved at this time, but will be leveled and covered with gravel to allow parking.
6. The Hispanic Community will be replacing the roof on the south portable.
7. The school parents are re-doing the grass playfield.
Gary’s presentation led to a discussion of the importance of re-striping the main parking lot. One of the members, who has a newborn child, mentioned that recently she had to park four blocks away to find a spot. It was also noted that the majority of our parishioners only experience the parking lot and the church, thus the availability of additional parking spaces is the change which would have the greatest impact. It is estimated that re-striping the main lot would yield an additional twenty spaces. Also the property on 98th Street has been filled, free of charge to the parish, and if it were covered with gravel, could also be used for parking.
Plans for the Coming Year
1. A new parish pictorial directory will be made this fall.
2. The school will be undergoing an extensive accreditation process next year.
3. There will be a reception/blessing for the new parish hall in the fall.
4. The institution/kick-off of the Randy Terlicker Endowment Fund for tuition assistance will take place this fall. It is hoped that eventually we would be able to have $1 million in this fund.
5. Father Velasco has been reassigned to Holy Family for one more year.
Status of Current Parish Council
Father Bloom stated that the current Parish Council’s cycle is complete with this final meeting. During the coming year we will focus on implementation the suggestions of the out-going council. A few periodic meetings may occur during the year to keep abreast of any parish concerns. It is hoped that members of the current council will also be involved in formulation of the School Improvement Plan by way of the accreditation process. In the following year we will begin the formation of a new parish council.
Next Meeting: Final potluck for all three councils on Thursday, June 15 at 6:00 p.m. in the school hall. Everyone is to bring their favorite dish to share.
Father Bloom adjourned the meeting with prayer at 9:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary French