The Bridge Forward: Frequently Asked Questions

Every dollar of families’ tuition payments, as well as money raised during our annual fundraisers, goes to educating students. Your tuition covers about 70% of the cost to educate your student, and the other 30% of the cost comes from Race for Education, The Great Pie Sale, and Shalom Dutchfest. Tuition and fundraiser dollars are not used for the capital campaign.

We utilized a competitive bidding process for our general contractor on this project. Every subcontractor is also competitively bid out, with many subcontractors having personal connections to Shalom. We are grateful for the many in-kind donations made by our partners on this project.

Our building committees and executive leadership have been working closely together to identify opportunities for cost savings. The goal of these capital improvements is to create an appealing and welcoming learning and growing environment for our students. The intention is not to be flashy or top-of-the-line. We are prayerfully making the best decisions possible with expert counsel and advice.

A major draw to Shalom is its family-like atmosphere. We have a “smart growth” plan that will not exceed our capacity for offering a high-quality education. We do not intend to add more classrooms beyond three per grade in the elementary school. We also continue to vet enrolling families to make sure they fit our community, culture, and mission. 

Tuition increases annually because of increasing costs and cost of living evaluations. This campaign is fully funded by donations outside of our tuition costs. 

Please visit our main page for a detailed explanation.

We are keeping disruptions to a minimum by completing major work while school is not in session. The current construction zone is outside of our school building, however athletics and recess have been affected the most.