Finance.  MICDS will continue to engage in prudent management of its assets to maintain financial stability and equilibrium. The School must remain committed to operating within a balanced budget. In planning the annual budget, consideration must continue to be given to operating in a less than ideal economic climate.  Conservative planning assumptions will remain key to ensuring this objective.

To accomplish its financial goals, the School, in concert with the Finance Committee of the Board, will conduct appropriate reviews and establish definite courses of action regarding appropriate tuition increases, projected annual giving levels and endowment income increases. Continuing the present cost disciplines and ongoing fiscal monitoring, teamed with a predisposition to maintain or lower present budgetary spending rates to ensure the most for every dollar spent, is of paramount importance to the ongoing success of the School. Additionally, maintaining the “Rainy Day” fund at the present levels will insure the ability to respond to any significant financial challenge.

The School should begin a comprehensive review of capital funding and endowment requirements, both interim and long term that are viewed as necessary or appropriate to achieve its objectives of providing a preeminent secondary education.  Some of these funding needs, as well as those to be incurred in the implementation of this strategic plan, will be phased into the operating budget over the three-year life of the plan, while other projects are longer-term in nature and will require a commensurately long-term planning process to ensure appropriate financial support.  Potentially planning and implementing a major capital and endowment campaign based on the results of this review will require Board oversight and the involvement of the entire MICDS community.

In the next three years, the School will work to balance the need for additional tuition revenue with a thoughtful consideration of ongoing competitive factors and an assessment of the School’s current and future families’ abilities to meet the cost of tuition.

The current need-based financial aid program provides resources when a family cannot afford to pay 100% of the tuition and should continue to be used to recruit and enroll a diverse student body. 

Benchmarking within the St. Louis market and the JPRO consortium of JK through Grade 12 independent day schools will afford the School the ability to keep in context the financial issues confronting it.

Investments.  The Investment Committee was established as a separate committee of the Board at the recommendation of the Strategic Plan 2000-2005 in order to maximize endowment growth. Underlying the creation of this Committee is the recognition that the endowment is singularly MICDS’ largest asset and provides vital support to the annual budget based on the endowment spending policy.  By focusing solely on their responsibility the Committee has helped to rebuild value that was lost in the post 9/11/01 time period.

The goal to maximize the total rate of return consistent with prudent risk management requires a diversified asset allocation strategy that employs different management styles. An annual review of the investment policy will insure its appropriateness and determine the types of permissible investments. The Committee will continue to utilize established benchmarks in order to monitor the return of the pooled endowment assets in the aggregate as well as review individual investment performance.