Forum Index
»
Private & Independent Schools
Where does the extra money go?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
I've often wondered this...
Sidwell/Maret/GDS/WIS/NCS are pulling tuitions of 30k/yr/child Montgomery county is spending 14k/yr/child, and providing busing, books, and some free meals Assuming most of the private schools already paid off their mortgages, where's the extra money going? There are building funds in addition to tuition, and fundraisers and endowments to cover financial aid... Are 50% of the private school students getting a free education? Are classes half as big? Is after-hours tutoring free? Are teachers paid stellar salaries and benefits compared to public school? Are there free student trips to france to study the eiffel tower? I'm being facetious, but I really don't get it. I've been to 2 parent tours, and other than a lack of trailers, I really couldn't see where the $$$ went; some schools had surcharges for joining band or the soccer team no-one bussed for free, tho there was a shuttle from the metro for highschoolers at one facility... Please can someone help me figure this out |
Anonymous
|
First, most of these schools have some debt. They may own buildings outright, but they've taken on debt to renovate.
Class size is the real cost center. My child at Sidwell has classes that range in size from 8 to 14 students. That is a lot of personalized attention. The classes are much, much larger in Montgomery County. |
Anonymous
| ok, I can see that as a definite plus...but is that an average class size for say, 7th grade math? |
Anonymous
| My 7th grader has 11 students in his math class. |
Anonymous
| Small class size is definitely one of the things you pay for at an independent school. Arts also. |
Anonymous
| In the early grades, the most-discussed schools seem to have class sizes that are similar to those of some (not all) close-in, non-Title I MoCo schools. Does this change in the higher grades? |
Anonymous
| (I know they typically have two teachers in K, but does that continue in 1st grade and so on? Do they split into smaller classes? Or do they have classes of roughly 20 with one teacher?) |
Anonymous
| The class sizes tend to get smaller as the work intensifies in middle and high school. |
Anonymous
| If say, a school has accepted 40 kids into 2 kindergartens, does that turn into 3 7th grade classes of 13 kids each? |
Anonymous
| Even if a "class" has 20 kids, in most privates we know of, there is a lot of time during which the classes are broken into smaller groups. For example, a third of the class will go to art/music/movement/library sessions, and the remainder will stay in smaller groups with the main teachers. So though the class may be a certain size, there is a fair amount of work in smaller groups. This may also be the case in public schools, I just don't know. |
Anonymous
| Probably not. Almost schools expand at various points: 3rd/4th, 6th/7th, etc. |
Anonymous
| By 7th grade, the kids do not have homerooms. They move from class to class for different subjects. Some classes are tracked. A standard math class might have more students than an accelerated or remedial class. Kids take different languages, so French class might have fewer kids than Spanish. Bottom line, by 7th homerooms are not significant, but individual class sizes are smaller. That's why some feel there is more value in the upper grades of private school. My local public has 22 kids and two teachers, just like the nearby privates. |
Anonymous
My kids are at Oyster, so there's a lot of breakout time, as each class has a spanish and an english teacher fulltime up to 5th grade The teacher might take 5 or 6 kids out to boost their Spanish, or the reading specialist comes for 3 kids... The middle school organization seems to involve 'breakout' groups, too...but I doubt any one class is 11 kids, unless it's remediation |