This week, we’re recognizing the impact of school choice and the doors it has opened for thousands of families seeking educational opportunities that were once beyond reach.
Every new opportunity for a family also presents added complexity for the schools and dioceses serving them. As access grows, operational adaptation is essential. Dioceses must develop new financial workflows, establish scalable enrollment processes, leverage data to support mission-aligned growth, and introduce new tools and partnerships to minimize manual effort.
As Texas schools prepare for the implementation of the Texas Education Freedom Account (TEFA), many face questions that go well beyond payments and compliance. For the Archdiocese of San Antonio, the focus has been on helping their schools understand how operational decisions today will impact long-term financial health and instructional quality.
How Does TEFA Impact School Operations?
TEFA widened access for families across the region. But it also presented new challenges for schools and dioceses. They were soon reevaluating tuition structures, class sizes, financial planning needs, and admissions practices.
For the Archdiocese of San Antonio, long-term financial stability was a top concern. Associate Superintendent of Business Operations Chana Finch said, “Some of the operational challenges our schools have faced are truly understanding how setting tuition and fee structures are impacting their financial health.”
Like school systems across Texas, the Archdiocese is now navigating questions such as:
- How will discounts and aid structures influence long-term viability?
- How can we set enrollment growth goals without expanding too quickly?
- How do we balance recommended student-teacher ratios while maintaining instructional quality?
Increased interest brings the opportunity to serve more families, but it also requires consistent admissions processes, accurate data across multiple schools, and reliable forecasting for staffing and facilities. These decisions must uphold the schools’ mission and long-term stewardship.
How Do Centralized Systems Support TEFA Readiness?
For the Archdiocese of San Antonio, a partnership with FACTS was crucial in addressing the challenges introduced by TEFA. They worked with FACTS to establish a consistent system for their network of schools.
Finch stated, “The various FACTS teams are visionary and forward-thinking to help us implement enhancements.” She noted several examples of how FACTS solutions have supported their schools in navigating TEFA, including:
- Standardizing applications and enrollment packets across all schools
- Utilizing district-level functionality to support shared processes
- Integrating inquiries from their CRM directly into each school’s admissions workflow
- Setting up a collective payment, compliance, and audit process to meet state requirements
As TEFA implementation progresses, the archdiocese plans to continue its partnership with FACTS, leveraging the company’s experience supporting schools nationwide to further scale operations.
We will look to FACTS to help us set up a collective payment, compliance, and audit processes to conform with State requirements.
Why Is Clean Data Essential When Navigating School Choice?
Accurate information supports forecasting, compliance, reporting, and financial planning, particularly when programs experience rapid growth due to school choice. Ultimately, accessing reliable data is crucial to achieving operational excellence in the face of school choice-driven changes. Finch put it simply and directly: “For us, clean data is key.”
The Archdiocese of San Antonio regularly audits systems, streamlines workflows whenever possible, standardizes admissions processes, and collaborates closely with the FACTS team to ensure they are utilizing the system to its fullest potential. “Audit your systems often, streamline operations and implement a standardized process for admissions to ensure the enrollment lifecycle flows as it should.” recommends Finch.
To support strategic, scalable decision-making for their network of schools, the archdiocese plans to utilize FACTS Data Insights. This new tool provides a centralized, visual way for school systems to analyze student and financial information across all of the FACTS products they use. “The new data dashboard will give us enhanced data to help us make informed decisions to ensure operational vitality in our schools,” said Finch.
Looking for a Partner to Support Your School Choice Operations?
School choice opens doors for families, but that is only the first step. Keeping that door open year after year is the real measure of success.
FACTS partners with schools, helping them sustain year-over-year enrollment growth.
FACTS has been and continues to be a blessing to our Catholic network of schools by continuing to partner with us in this new journey.
Learn how FACTS can support your school choice operations at FACTSmgt.com/School-Choice-Resource
