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Money trouble may force closure of Waldorf School By JOHN DARLING ASHLAND -- Deep deficits may force Waldorf School to close soon if it doesn't find ways to fund the rest of the school year while it develops a long-range marketing and grant-funding strategy. Reduced tuitions for low-income students have raised enrollment this year from 108 to a record 140, but it has not significantly helped the income picture, said Malcolm Hilgartner, president of the Waldorf board of trustees. The private school, with an annual budget of $750,000, now faces a shortfall of $217,000 -- or about $36,000 a month through the school year ending in June, he said. School Administrator Geena Southworth said she told parents at a Sunday meeting the financial crisis was so acute the school was ``in danger of closing." Parents at the gathering pledged $124,000 toward the deficit, she said, and resolved to explore strategies to come up with the remaining amount, so that she and the board could focus on long-range strategy. "We (the board) told parents we're at the point of decision," Hilgartner said. "We've been lurching from financial crisis to financial crisis, then being saved by angels (financial benefactors). It's a terrible way to operate, because people start to think someone will save it. It's been a hard, bitter lesson for the school. "We told them the only way the board and our new administrator can build the school is to retire the deficit, so we have the time and space to develop five- and 10-year business plans and find corporate and foundation grants. We told them that if we can't do this, we want to close the school." Decisions on the future of Waldorf School are scheduled to be made at a board-parent meeting on Monday. Among responses being considered, Hilgartner said, is a review of the reduced tuition program. The school has a policy of ethnic and socio-economic diversity and of admitting all comers, regardless of ability to pay. Sixty percent of Waldorf's students are on tuition adjustment, Southworth said. Most reduced-tuition students pay about 40 percent of tuition. Tuition should comprise 80 to 90 percent of revenues, Southworth said, but they now make up only 53 percent. The challenge of raising tuitions, Hilgartner noted, is that it might reduce enrollment, yet also might inspire confidence that Waldorf is operating "within its means." The board is considering cuts in music and art, he said, even though "music and art are the heart of Waldorf." Other immediate fund-raising strategies are being considered, Southworth said, including teaming up with Ashland's Lomakatsi reforestation project and forming a buying collective in which subscribers could buy bulk essentials cut-rate. "The enthusiasm and hope and will of the parents to survive is extraordinary," said Southworth. "Despite what the numbers look like, this is a successful organization. "You look at the demographics of this area and why people are moving here and it all shouts: Waldorf, Waldorf, Waldorf. We just have to get the message out to people beyond this insular community who already know about us." Hilgartner added, "We're on the verge of prospering." Waldorf enrollment coordinator Sherrill Wedlake said a "large percentage" of parents want the school to continue and in her judgment, "it definitely will." Board member and parent Susan Freniere said Waldorf weathered a similar crisis last school year and lost 70 families. The Waldorf community's response this year is "strong and determined," she said, and she's "very optimistic" about funding the present school year. "About next year, I'm not so confident," she said. "We really have to have specific plans. The Rogue Valley doesn't have quite enough population or income to support Waldorf, so I think we'll fare better as the valley grows." The private school, situated on a rural, 40-acre setting on East Main Street, has for 20 years offered alternative education emphasizing basics with a liberal dose of music, art, languages and "love of learning and how to be creative, compassionate and respectful," Southworth said. The school, one of 630 Waldorf schools in the United States, operates with heavy parent involvement and a board staffed by parents and teachers. The board ran the school until Southworth was hired last month. Decision-making is done by consensus or a "come along together" philosophy, which often requires "a lot of convincing and understanding," Hilgartner said. Waldorf moved from Jacksonville to Ashland in 1992, when a benefactor bought the present buildings and land for $350,000 and leased it to Waldorf with the long-range goal of selling 30 of the 40 acres in order to retire the mortgage, Hilgartner said. The land and property obligations are not key to the present crisis, he added, as the rent in Jacksonville was $49,000 a year and the present lease is only $56,000. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA