Dear Friends,

In all of my experience as a father and as a financial advisor, I have found that making decisions where to send children to school is one of the hardest that a parent will encounter.  I often say that financial decisions are simply reflective of other, deeper issues in life, and no place is this truer than with school decisions.
 
My own five children attended all types of schools over the years – public, private, Christian, and home school.  At each decision point, Judy and I had to work through the multiple facets of making the decision:  What is best for the child?  Do we sacrifice other high financial priorities to send the child to a private school? Can we make the logistics of the decision work for our family?  The finances were always a major stress point in the decision, but the best interest of the particular child and our family at large were also deeply emotional components of the decision.

Over the years, Judy and I used what we call the “decision making matrix” to help us sort through competing priorities in complicated decisions.  This system helps you sort out competing objectives and alternatives in a way that will clarify a decision.  I want to share the steps in the process with you briefly:

1. Define the decision.  Write out the actual decision that you are trying to make.  Your decision may be, “Since we are frustrated with the peer influence at the public school, would it be best to send Johnny to a private, Christian school over the local public school?”
2. Write down, in a list, all of your objectives (purpose, priorities) that relate to the decision.  List both quantitative and qualitative objectives.  For example, parents of 9-year-old Johnny would think about what is best for him and their family, and what facets they want to have maximized or minimized in the decision, such as:
   • Maximize positive social influences
   • Maximize a learning environment that will support his mild ADHD
   • Maximize the opportunity for strong communication with the school
   • Maximize the ability to save for college and retirement at X amount per month
   • Maximize faith – oriented influences at a young age
   • Minimize schedule conflicts over carpooling and extra curricular activities
   • Maximize opportunities for him to grow into his artistic talents
3. Rank your objectives in order of their importance.  Since there are no ideal situations, there will be tradeoffs when it comes to your priorities.  Give each objective a priority ranking with 5 being a non-negotiable and 1 being something you could trade or live without.  It is ok to give the same ranking to more than one objective.  List your objectives down the left hand column of your matrix.
4. List all possible school alternatives.  Across the top of the matrix, write down every option you can think of, no matter how creative.  At one point, Judy and I felt “stuck” with our boys because we knew they were in a poor educational environment for them, but we did not have the time or resources to get them into a new school for the next year.  We had to be creative and add “home schooling” to the list of alternatives.  While the choice to home school wasn’t one we’d ever considered, adding it to the list and running it through the matrix made it clear that it was our best option for that year.  We’ve never been sorry we took the plunge and homeschooled them for that time.  Try not to get caught with just two schooling alternatives:  think outside the box.
5. Evaluate all of the alternatives in light of the objectives.  If an alternative would fully fulfill an objective, assign it the full priority ranking.  If an alternative only partly fulfills an objective, assign it a portion of the full priority ranking.  The concept here is to begin thinking more in terms of objectives than alternatives.
6. Decide which school alternative best meets your objectives and priorities.  When you add up the points under each alternative, you get various totals.  The alternative with the highest total would “win.”  However, often when the black and white process of doing a matrix is complete, the process will have opened your eyes to your true priorities as well as to creative answers to your confusing decisions.  So many times, the matrix has been the tool that God has used to open other doors in a decision that Judy and I have been making.
7. Lastly, do a “risk analysis.”  Ask yourself two things about the school you have chosen:  1.  What is the worst thing that could happen if we choose this school?  And 2.  How likely is it that the “worst case scenario” will occur?  The answer to the questions will help you to see how risky your top choice will be for you and your child.  If the risk seems too high, consider your other alternatives.  The risk analysis helps you to determine if you are comfortable with your decision.

While the decision making process may seem very technical or cumbersome, it was the best tool that Judy and I employed over the years to help us communicate clearly with each other and to help us consider all of the factors that went into our school decisions for our kids.  I pray it is helpful for you!

May God’s peace encourage you as you pursue financial wisdom and depend on His Truth.

Blessings,

Ron


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