A Letter from the President of the Board of Trustees and the Head of School
These challenging times of diminishing resources and prospects raise in all our minds the question of what matters most. It is the right question even in the best of times, but it comes into particular focus now.
For institutions such as Saint Ann’s, with a clear and broadly shared sense of mission, the answer is obvious but worth restating. Our highest (and indeed only) priority is offering to each of our students the most vibrant and diverse curriculum possible in a setting that is both challenging and supportive.
The magic of a Saint Ann’s education comes at a cost. We need classrooms and other facilities that support our faculty’s ability to teach in the intimate settings that a Saint Ann’s education requires. We need adequate funding to support our extraordinary faculty and to nurture their continuing growth. And we need resources to offer support to those students we admit to our community who need financial aid to join us. Each of these priorities is supported by our planning and by our capital and operating spending.
Saint Ann’s is well positioned to weather the current financial storm. Since its founding, the school has maintained a financial tradition of pay as you go, with balanced annual budgets and no long-term debt. While our modest endowment of $5 million has declined, it is conservatively invested and will in time resume its support of financial aid and other designated purposes. In the meantime, we are actively managing our operating costs with a view toward maintaining a balanced budget even without endowment income.
Our Securing Saint Ann’s capital campaign launched five years ago focused on endowed funds for financial aid and faculty support, and on current financing for core physical facilities. The goals of the Campaign continue to pass the what matters most test.
In 2008, Saint Ann’s unexpectedly had the opportunity to acquire additional space in the very heart of our campus, the brownstone at 122 Pierrepont adjacent to our Rubin Building and across the street from the Bosworth Building. Coincidentally, the Board and administration agreed on a policy of capping the school’s enrollment and slowly reducing the size of school by one percent to ensure that Saint Ann’s will continue to offer personalized teaching and small classes. We closed on the purchase in September 2009 and have secured the remaining pledges to complete the financing.
At this time, the building has already helped us to add classroom space, one of our needs that matters most. We are using the modestly renovated lower floors every day. Even without significant renovation, this new space is contributing significantly to our ability to teach in both more and smaller settings.
We will continue to manage our capital investment and operating costs so as to focus on our core needs. That done, our ability to offer the undiminished gift of a Saint Ann’s education to all of our students regardless of need depends on you. As each of you considers the question of what matters most to you and your family during these challenging times, we trust that Saint Ann’s will continue as one of the highest priorities for your support.
All this said, be assured that none of this attention to the dry realities of finance diverts us from our true focus on the magic that Saint Ann’s works each day on each of its students.
That is what matters most.