Head of Tacoma private school that raised $210K to stay open answers questions about finances
Most of the money raised by Sound Christian Academy to keep doors open is going toward payroll, according to Interim Head of School Matt Richey.
A parent of a junior at Sound Christian Academy reached out to The News Tribune with questions about the school’s fiscal transparency March 6. The News Tribune reached Richey Friday afternoon to learn more about the school’s financial decisions leading up to and following their ask for $210,000 from the community to help them get through the month of March, after years of budget troubles.
Asked if the school hasn’t been able to pay their teachers and staff in recent months, he said that isn’t true.
They’ve sometimes had to pay their employees late by several days, but they’ve continued paying them, he told The News Tribune.
The vast majority of the $210,000 is going to pay teachers and staff, he said. He didn’t have an exact percentage, but he said he’d estimate it to be well over half — around 80 or 90%. Some of the remaining funds are going to cover essential bills like utilities.
Richey also spoke to concerns about the senior class’s ability to go on a senior trip this year. There was a delay in releasing the funds the class raised for the trip because of cash flow issues, but that money has been released, he said. Typically, the senior class drives three or four hours away to rent a large house and spend three days there to celebrate the end of their high school career.
Another recent trip by the school’s basketball team was fully covered by families after the school made the decision that they wouldn’t be able to fund the trip, he said.
As a nonprofit, the school is not required to audit its finances, but they plan to do so within the next few years, Richey said in response to a question about whether the school regularly checks its books and shares the results with families. In bylaws passed about a year ago, the school board approved a requirement that the school’s finances be audited every three years, so they are preparing for an audit to meet that deadline, according to Richey.
The school has had a certified public accountant review their finances but they haven’t gone through an audit before, he said.
Asked if the school will refund families who pre-paid tuition for the full school year, if the school isn’t able to stay open or if parents decide to pull their students out early, Richey said families can reach out to him and he “would be happy to have that conversation with any family.” He’s spent many phone calls talking with families related to that question, which he said has a lot of contingencies related to it, he said.
He emphasized that the school has shared more information with families than he’s willing to share publicly, and that more information is on the way to them.
“I would just really encourage people to feel like they can reach out, particularly parents and families that have questions and I’m more than happy to talk to them and speak to any of their concerns,” he said. “ ... I think that the sacrifices (families have) made to help us stay open behooves us to work hard to be able to earn and keep their trust and to be able to keep the school open.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
