Editor's Letter
By: Jill Hasty Pinheiro

The Association of Christian Schools International recently released the results of its 2009-2010 Annual School Survey, www.acsi.org. Nearly 2,000 participants answered questions across a variety of areas, including personnel, programs, technology, enrollment, and salaries.

As the editor of a magazine dedicated to providing you information to be the best stewards of your funds when purchasing products and services for your school, I was naturally most drawn to the section of the report that focused on budgets.

Here are a few survey statistics:

* Median budget: $760,000

* Percent of budget provided by fundraising: 10.6%
 
* Percent of budget for need-based tuition aid: 6.83%

* Percent of families receiving tuition aid: 20.4% 

How do these numbers reflect your own?

Speaking of Christian school budgets, here are a few words of wisdom, courtesy of the Ministry Tools Resource Center: "How much better when planning controls the budget rather than the budget controlling the planning. Look to the future and not to the past in projecting needs. Trust God to provide for that which you sense He wants you to do."

I'm always interested in hearing from you. You can reach me at jill@cspmag.com.

God Bless,

Jill Hasty Pinheiro
Managing Editor

P.S. Don't forget to follow Christian School Products magazine on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cspmag. Along with our e-newsletter, which you can subscribe to at www.cspmag.com, this is another way to get even more purchasing tips to help you evaluate and select products and services for your school.