Dear Burgundy Families,

It’s been our honor and privilege this fall, more than ever, to educate your children. A global pandemic has not dimmed their joy in learning, and the passionate teaching and the personal care given by our talented faculty and staff has never been more obvious and important. We’re grateful for our faculty, staff, and administrators’ hard work and for the incredible collaboration of our parents. Our ‘Burgundy advantages’ have helped us get through this pandemic as successfully as we have to date: our unique Alexandria and West Virginia campuses; our flexible curriculum (here and at the Cove, indoors and out); our respectful culture and, most of all, our collaborative Burgundy community. Through it all, together, we have supported the development of the whole child in challenging circumstances.

With vaccines on the way, we can look forward to a gradual layering back in of regular operations and programs and activities we have missed, including sports, after-school programs, summer day camp, and so on. Even as we remain in the throes of the pandemic, however, we believe that the commitment and sacrifice that parents make in order to provide a Burgundy experience to their children has never been more worth it. Burgundy teachers, staff, and administrators remain committed to research-based best practice and professional development and have been growing their practice right through the pandemic. Meantime, our graduates continue to thrive. They attend a remarkable range of excellent high schools, colleges, and universities, where they routinely are recognized for their excellence, and they thrive in life as successful, happy, and fulfilled adults who are contributing and leading citizens.

Looking ahead to next school year, the Burgundy Finance Committee and Board, working with the administration, have approved our 2021-22 school year budget, and we can preview that budget here. Next year’s budget is built around our desire to provide our hard-working teachers and staff with a 2% raise for 2021-22 and otherwise control costs while maintaining value for our students and their families. Due to the pandemic related income losses this year, we were unable to give planned raises. We appreciate the stress and uncertainty caused by the pandemic and wanted to stem tuition increases to the extent possible. Thus, while we have averaged a 4%+ increase over the past decade and a 3.75% increase over the past few years, we will adjust tuition upward by 3% to pay for raises and to keep progress with our strategic goals. We know that tuition alone does not cover the full cost of a Burgundy education, and our fundraising efforts and auxiliary services must help make up the shortfall to help keep tuition lower than it would be otherwise. With Cove trips, instrumental music, team sports, and many other programs included in regular tuition, Burgundy remains a strong value among our peer schools.

Tuition for 2021-2022 will be as follows:
JK $32,143
K $33,417
Grades 1-5 $34,954
Grades 6-8 $36,774

If you have a question about the budget, feel free to reach out to any of the three of us signing this letter or to the Director of Finance and Operations, Kathy Miller.

Thank you for choosing Burgundy and continuing to entrust us with your children!

Respectfully,

Jeff Sindler, Head of School
Chad Breckinridge, President, Board of Trustees
Allen O’Neil ’92, Treasurer, Board of Trustees