By Charlie Broad ‘25

Graphic by Evan Zang

At this point in the year, hopefully, every student at Catlin Gabel School (CGS) is familiar with their teachers, the campus, and the daily happenings that students face. Students quickly gain a good understanding of the structure that is established at CGS. However, behind the scenes of this illustrious academic institution is the engine that creates this structure, the budget.

Snapshot of the CGS budget income and expenses.

Courtesy of The Caller

At CGS, it is commonplace for students not to have the highest financial literacy about their school's fiscal inner workings. As seen in the above graphic, the budget expenses are broken down into seven categories, costing roughly 30 million dollars annually.

Results from a randomly stratified survey of CGS students inquiring about their perceptions of the budget.

Courtesy of Charlie Broad

In a randomly stratified survey sent out to the CGS student body, 86.4% of the respondents were not able to accurately estimate within five million dollars of the real budget, and the majority of respondents were not within twenty million dollars. Although students don’t appear keen on the details of the budget, its duty impacts each student daily.

Perhaps this is because the people who decide CGS's budget work behind the scenes and rarely interact with the student body. Sharon Keiser, the CGS Chief Finance and Operations Officer (CFOO), works directly with the budget. Along with Keiser, the board of directors and the finance committee have the fiduciary responsibility to maintain the CGS budget.

The budget is set up on a ten-year plan, but on a year-to-year basis, it hovers around 30 million dollars for all operating expenses. Although there might be small changes every year, the structure will look very similar.

In the 2023-24 school year, the largest chunk of the budget expenses, 71%, was allocated to salaries and benefits. “We can't deliver on our mission without hiring incredible people, and also equipping them with what they need to do their very best work,” said Keiser, highlighting the teacher-focused approach of the budget.

While the percentages of where the budget expenses are allocated remain virtually unchanged, CGS has undertaken capital projects, putting more financial pressure on the school. Recently, CGS has been preparing to open a new community center at the campus entrance.

In 2017, the whole school community collaboratively identified its main priorities: the current gym has become outgrown by the school, there isn’t a single indoor space that can hold all of the school, the current food service space is undersized for the number of students, and there isn’t a sense of arrival when coming to the campus. This community center will fulfill each of these needs for the CGS community. However, this major financial project has created more “budgetary discipline.”

Contingency budgeting began to be introduced. “We can earmark some dollars, and if we don't need those dollars, then those will flow right down to that reserve,” said Keiser. This form of budgeting will shave off unneeded dollars and direct them to a fund that supports major projects.

It is important to emphasize that money used for capital projects comes from a source different from the core operating budget. The entirety of the tuition money goes toward the core operating budget, covering about 98%-99% of the budget, with the gap being fundraised. In a project, like the community center, additional fundraising supports the project.

The CGS budget may seem like a distant administrative concern, but its impact is intertwined in the fabric of student life. From the teachers who cultivate lifelong learning, to the expansive, well-manicured environment that is the CGS campus. The various facets of the budget enable the experience that shapes a CGS education.

A look into the CGS budget