A Look at School Mergers and Acquisitions
As schools consider institutional sustainability, the idea of a merger or acquisition may come into play. An acquisition might be a good option for schools looking to expand – offering new grade levels and divisions, acquiring new facilities, or onboarding new services. Conversely, a merger may provide a sound option for schools facing challenges, such as struggling to meet enrollment numbers or losing students in transitional grade years.
Data about the prevalence of school mergers is difficult to ascertain. Of the more than 3,200 schools in the SAIS Head of School Database, 19 schools are known to have merged, versus 129 who closed. While mergers and acquisitions are rare within the SAIS membership, for the few schools that have navigated this path, the outcomes have proven to be well worth the effort.
Providing Choice for Families – Sea Pines Montessori Academy & Hilton Head Preparatory School, Hilton Head Island, SC
Hilton Head Preparatory School and Sea Pines Montessori Academy have been next-door neighbors for nearly 60 years, essentially sharing a campus. Hilton Head Prep recently completed its strategic plan, with one pillar focused on expanding reach into the community. In alignment with its strategic plan, Prep reached out to SPMA to propose a model that would strengthen the early childhood program and create a more cohesive path for students ranging in age from 15 months through high school.
The potential merger process moved quickly through the fall of 2024 as both schools’ boards of trustees and key leaders conducted due diligence to determine the feasibility of a successful merger. With an alignment of mission and values, the merger agreement was approved by January 2025, and Sea Pines Montessori Academy became a division of Hilton Head Prep.
When announcing the merger of two entities, questions will arise from the various constituents of both organizations. The greatest challenge Hilton Head Prep faced was the anxiety over the future of the Montessori program, which had a long history of excellence. Hilton Head Prep is committed to not only keeping the program, but strengthening it. Moving forward, the traditional PK3 and PK4 classes at Prep will be replaced by Montessori classrooms. Sea Pines’ previous grade 4-6 classes will be replaced with traditional Hilton Head Prep classrooms. And, the school will maintain a dual pathway for grades K-3, offering both a Montessori and traditional classroom option for families to consider.
The merger creates a single, cohesive campus and adds an excellent feeder program to the lower school. Hilton Head Prep enrollment has grown from about 400 students a few years ago to serving approximately 600 students, post merger. Preserving the best of both school cultures remains a priority for leadership. Head of School Paul Horgan shares, “Perspective matters, and understanding the perspectives of all involved can help preserve culture. The ‘otherness’ [after a merger] is going to take time to go away, even after you have become one school. People need to feel that they are heard and valued.”
To navigate this challenge, Horgan suggests creating ways for the faculty and staff of each school to get to know each other quickly. Social gatherings, shared professional development, and luncheons allow individuals to begin seeing each other as colleagues on the same team.
Horgan continues, “We’ve added excellent faculty members who have the opportunity to both maintain an excellent Montessori program and collaborate with new colleagues to innovate and find the best ways to prepare all students. The invisible wall between our schools and the myths of what each type of learning looks like have quickly been broken down. The sense of ‘otherness’ that had existed is quickly being changed to a sense of unity and belonging.”
While the merger is officially complete on paper, Hilton Head Prep and Sea Pines Montessori Academy still have transformational work on the road ahead. “I’m certain there are many lessons to be learned in the coming months and years. It is an incredible process to go through,” Horgan says. “It has the potential to be a transformational learning opportunity for everyone involved. The opportunity for educators to work together to do something that is truly innovative is exciting and can bring out the best in everyone. For us, staying focused on the children at every step can serve as our compass … and help us stay on the right path.”
When Three Become One – Episcopal School of Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL
In the spring of 2017, Episcopal School of Jacksonville was approached by nearby Beaches Episcopal School about a potential merger. After due diligence and the forthcoming merger was announced, Episcopal was contacted by yet another local school, St. Mark’s Episcopal Day School, about the possibility of merging as well. By the fall of 2019, the mergers of all three schools were announced, and the merger prep work began. Since the summer of 2020, ESJ has operated as one school with three campuses serving close to 1,500 students.
The Rev. Adam Greene, Head of School, Episcopal School of Jacksonville, shares that, during the due diligence process, one of the greatest challenges was in navigating relationships with the founding parish churches associated with the lower schools. “It was important to get the church constituents on board with a mindset of not ‘giving away’ the school, but rather having someone else carry the mission forward,” Greene says.
After the mergers, Greene and team faced a challenge of blending not two but three distinct campus cultures and curricula. Though all three schools shared similar missions, visions, and values, it was important to respect campus-specific traditions and history. The school also needed to align curriculum between the lower schools and across grade levels, which has proven to be an excellent source of professional development across campuses, widening circles of collaborators to strengthen the community of lower school teachers.
“Thanks to intentional, transparent communication and collaboration from the beginning, the community has and continues to work closely together to live into our life as one school, three campuses,” says Greene. “Our school community has embraced the mergers with open arms.”
Despite the challenge and the work, Greene says the efforts are yielding great results, including remarkable demand for admissions, with enrollment growth across the lower schools. “Both campuses passed our best-case five-year enrollment projection in just three years,” Greene shares. “We were optimistic about the outcome and ESJ strengthening the lower schools, but we did not anticipate how much they would support and bolster one another.”
A Unique Merger – The Village School of Naples, Naples, FL
As schools consider their strategic plans and future goals, The Village School of Naples serves as an example of how a school can enhance or increase offerings through a non-school acquisition. TVS had expanded into an upper school just prior to Dr. Dennis Chapman’s onboarding as the new head of school, begging the question, how would the first class of rising seniors receive college counseling services in preparation for graduation and the competitive oft-times college application process?
The answer came with a cup of coffee. Chapman discovered that many TVS families were paying for college advising services through a local organization, Quest for Success. Over a cup of coffee, Chapman learned more about the organization, built a relationship with Quest for Success Executive Director, Susan Zumstein, and began exploring a potential collaboration. The Village School of Naples established a formal partnership to contract with Quest for Success to provide services to TVS students in-house, but the relationship soon grew to become an official merger.
With approval of both organizations’ boards, TVS acquired Quest for Success, yielding immediate benefits for families within the school. Students could now receive college advising services during the school day, versus after school, and the service was now included within TVS tuition for families. Further, Quest for Success continues to offer advising services to students outside of the TVS community, which brings students on campus in the afternoons and on weekends. This has yielded some new enrollments for the TVS upper school.
Notably, providing six college counselors for a newly formed high school assisted TVS in college placements for its first graduating classes. This high level of student support, alongside strong academic programs, reinforces the school’s value for new and returning families. The Village School of Naples continues to explore additional ways to innovate with the addition of the Quest for Success team, including options for alumni college advising, alternatives to college for students after high school, and franchise possibilities.
The merger would not have been possible without the strong support of the TVS board. Chapman shares that, in his experience, some of the best board members are those who have an entrepreneurial mindset and are willing to explore new opportunities. The acquisition of Quest for Success came about organically over a period of just a few months, coinciding perfectly with an already planned campus expansion.
Ultimately, for Chapman, school M&A is all about relationships: “You have to be thoughtful of who you might be combining forces with. I think it should feel more like a partnership of equals rather than one dominating over the other.”
Ideas Into Action
If you’re considering a merger or acquisition as part of your strategic planning, consider the due diligence and advice from our featured schools.
