Behind the Scenes: School Funding

With everyday expenses and a new building in construction, school funding is crucial for the TCS to function normally, and the work and planning behind it often goes unnoticed by both students and teachers.

Although funding in schools is very straightforward students and teachers aren’t aware of where does the money come from and where does the money go and it’s important for them to know the truth of it all.

“[The school] gains [it’s income] by providing the service of education, let’s say that the income comes from tuitions and enrollments of k4 till 12th grade. That is more or less the 99% of the earnings of the school, the resting amount are the inscriptions that have to do with columbus life, which are extracurricular activities, like poli and those type of activities,” said Elen Yepes, financial and administrative manager.

As said before, the income of the school is very straightforward. It mostly consists of students´ enrollments and tuition coming from k4 to 12th grade. The other minuscule income that the school receives is through extracurricular activities like poli or as they call it nowadays “Columbus life.”

“The gross income are tuitions and enrollments; these are the earnings of the school that are currently regulated by the government which means that we can’t increase [the price] however we want each year but have to follow the maximum percentage that we can increase annually that is set by the government,” said Yepes.

The government not only chooses the amount but the maximum percentage the school can increase the tuition by. This leads to it being a fair price for both the school and students.

“The school is a non-profit entity which means that neither dividends or payments are given to anyone, nor does it have an owner, but everything is reinvested in the roster that is needed [for the school] to operate or if there is any construction needed,” said Yepes.

The school being a non profit entity is required for the school to reinvest everything that is won in profit back into the operation of the school, which includes paying the teachers and the school roster, paying for any type of construction and much more.

“The earnings have to cover the operating expenses of the year, it has to fulfill the roster, the professional development, the school’s maintenance, everything that has to do with technology, and many other things, and there must be some leftover for investing,” said Yepes.

The income has to cover all the expenses that the school has, and have enough left for any kind of investment, like a building or construction or a big purchase. Also some of the money goes back into a reserve that the school has for any kind of emergency.

“I feel like it’s important to know the behind the scenes of how the school functions and how does it work because it really helps us appreciate of how serious and dedicated the school is about handling well our money that we invest,” Samuel Vieira, high school junior stated.