By Emily Randall
Northeast News
Oct. 6, 2010

With a new strategic plan two years in the making and a new superintendent at the helm, changes coming to the Catholic schools in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese could mean lower tuition for some.

Starting in the 2011-12 school year, the diocese will institute changes for funding its schools that engage the entire Catholic community. In the past, generally, diocesan Catholic elementary schools were funded largely by the parish where a school was located. In the future, the diocese will challenge all parishes to make schools their top priority for funding. Those funds will be distributed back out to elementary schools based on need, meaning schools in lower income areas like Historic Northeast could receive more funding.

“At Holy Cross,” Superintendent Daniel Peters said, “I think there’s a good chance there will be more assistance. There is some hope, some chance, there will be some reduction in what you have to pay.”

This method of asking all parishes to support schools, regardless of whether children in a parish attend the schools or if there even are any children in a parish, is similar to the method other dioceses in Missouri, Kansas and across the nation use. It is also similar to the way Catholic Charities is funded.

Although Peters said he has heard some discontent from parishioners who are being asked to support Catholic schools when there is no Catholic school close enough to their parishes to which they can send their children, he said most are understanding.

“This one gentleman said [during a presentation I made at one such parish], ‘We’re part of a Catholic Diocese. We’re not just our own church,’” Peters said. “I could’ve gotten up and kissed him.”

Additionally, the Central City Schools Fund, which has supported schools like Holy Cross in the urban core of Kansas City, has a new name and an expanded mission. The newly dubbed Strong City Schools Fund will offer scholarships to families with demonstrated financial need across the entire diocese, rather than solely in the urban core.

Previously, explained Diocese Communications Director Becky Summers, a family in financial distress in the Northland or Raytown, for example, could go to their pastor to ask for help. However, Summers said, people may have been hesitant to do so based on shame or other reasons. With a formalized, centralized way to apply for financial assistance, she said, more people should feel comfortable doing so.

A new scholarship, the Honoring Family Scholarship, also aims to lessen the financial burden of sending children to parochial school. The scholarship will offer a partial tuition grant to the oldest child in a family who is enrolled at Archbishop O’Hara, Bishop LeBlond, St. Mary or St. Pius X High School. Students would qualify for the grant if they have another sibling enrolled in a diocesan Catholic school.

All these efforts are aimed at increasing enrollment at the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocesan schools. Although some schools have waiting lists, taken as a whole, the schools have 2,500 empty seats that Peters wants to fill.

A new leader

Peters recently became Superintendent of Schools for the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese after 13 years as superintendent of the Renwick Unified School District in Sedgwick County, Kan.

Peters began his career as a middle school teacher at All Saints School in Wichita. He then served as assistant principal in junior and high schools in the Wichita Public School District.

“Our diocese has its sights set on enduring academic excellence for distinctly Catholic schools,” Peters said, “and our strategic plan is the road map for our future.”

The new strategic plan in its entirety can be found at www.mycatholicschools.com.