This is one of five case studies from the National Association of Independent Schools about schools that are making nontraditional funding models work for the benefit of low-income students. See the full set of case studies.
Profile: St. George’s has nearly 1,150 students on three campuses: an elementary campus in Germantown and a middle/upper school campus in Collierville, both suburbs of Memphis, and a second elementary campus in Memphis.
The Memphis campus serves 140 students in pre-K–5th grade. All Memphis campus students receive financial aid based on need, and approximately 60 percent qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch.
History: St. George’s was founded in 1959 as an elementary school in Germantown, an affluent, mostly white suburb of Memphis. In the late 1990s, the school launched a capital campaign to build a middle/upper school campus on donated land in Collierville, an adjacent suburb. At that time, a group approached the school about adding an additional elementary campus in the city of Memphis for underserved families. The school agreed and began developing what today is a three-school model.
Memphis Campus: Founded in 2001, this campus largely serves working class, African American families. To create a sense of community and camaraderie, students from the Memphis campus participate in events with their Germantown counterparts, who follow the same curriculum. In sixth grade, most Memphis campus students move to the Collierville campus to complete their K–12 education. The first class of students from the Memphis campus graduated in 2016.
Financial Model: To launch the Memphis campus, a local Episcopal church donated the facilities. A group of private donors provided $6 million in seed funds as well as ongoing financial support.
About 80 percent of St. George’s Independent School's operating budget comes from tuition and fees. The second-largest source, at 15 percent, is private gifts. Students at the Memphis campus pay tuition on a sliding scale based on income; the average family contribution is about $1,200. In comparison, elementary students at the Germantown campus pay around $16,000 in tuition, and high school students pay around $18,500.
Strengths:
• The three-campus model. The Memphis campus is supported not only by charitable gifts and endowments but also by shared resources from the larger St. George’s Independent School's community. These resources include staff, programs, and access to opportunities. Students from both the Memphis and Germantown campuses benefit from interacting with each other and developing friendships. These relationships promote unity in an area that historically is divided along racial and socioeconomic lines. “This is a city that at various times has pulled itself apart, and through our school we are ambitiously trying to be a glue that pulls things together,” said Ross Peters, head of St. George’s Independent School.
• Demand. The Memphis campus attracts applicants from more than 30 ZIP codes. The school regularly screens two to three times the number of students it has spots available for and maintains a waiting list.
Challenges:
• Sustainability. The campus relies heavily on donations, drawing on an investment from the donor group to fund operations. Staff members are working actively to increase the corpus of the investment to ensure sustainability in perpetuity.
• Staying true to the mission. Opening the Memphis campus was a unique and complicated idea both logistically and because of the racial and socioeconomic divides in Memphis. It operates on a different business model than its counterparts, requiring different staff and strategy. Members of the school community work diligently to build relationships across these socioeconomic and racial differences so that all students may benefit. Communication, planning, and collaboration are essential components of success.
Comment: “The St. George’s Independent School Memphis campus is a blessing to many in the Memphis community,” said Andrea Ballard, director of the school. “Faculty, staff, and families benefit from a shared mission and goal of providing a high-quality education, empowering students and families to reach their potential and become change makers in the Memphis community beginning at an early age and continuing when they return from college.”
More information: www.sgis.org.