Washington-area Catholic schools will celebrate a Mass Monday afternoon to bless the new school year, which begins Tuesday for the District and throughout the next two weeks for Maryland.
With a new superintendent, four new principals, two closures and a merger, it might be a long service.
The Archdiocese of Washington has been taking steps to stabilize its system since 2008, when it sold off seven Catholic schools to fix a $4 million deficit. Those schools became charters, which archdiocese spokesman Susan Gibbs calls “a one-time situation.”
Now, the archdiocese is funneling more money into tuition assistance. During the 2008 conversions, it offered just $860,000 in tuition assistance, or 5 percent of families’ need. The amount is now $5 million, or 21 percent of need, thanks to a new “needy students fund” created in late 2009 and funded primarily from private donors that will be used for its first full school year. Tuition ranges from about $4,500 to $7,500 for the 20 schools in the District and 78 in Maryland.
“For every dollar we put up for tuition, we see two dollars back from families, who can now afford to put their children in our seats,” Gibbs said.
Incoming Superintendent Deacon Bert L’Homme said financial recovery was on track. “I don’t think the system is unstable. The Catholic schools, like any schools, can always do better.”
Still, two closures and several close calls show the solution isn’t shatterproof. Holy Redeemer Catholic School, a poor, small school of about 130 students, closed after Congress discontinued the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. St. Hugh in Greenbelt closed for a second time because of declining enrollment and financial struggles.
St. Mark the Evangelist School in Hyattsville expected the past school year to be its last. Instead, it merged with St. Camillus School in Silver Spring to form the St. Francis International School. This year it will operate only on the St. Camillus campus, but hopes to expand to both within a few years.
Three of the four departing principals, as well as the outgoing superintendent, were promoted or offered national opportunities. The fourth, at Cardinal Hickey Academy in Owings, was a nun reassigned by her national order.
Catholic schools in Northern Virginia, run by the separate Diocese of Arlington, open Aug. 30.
