Catholic system adds fourth elementary in 30th year

Board members at each of Springfield’s Catholic schools took a bold step 30 years ago.
Struggling for funding, three Springfield parish schools bucked history and joined forces to become Springfield Catholic Schools – one organization under one governing body.
There were only 80 such Catholic school systems in the nation. During the next 30 years, just 20 more were created.
“A Catholic education arrangement is somewhat unusual in the U.S.,” said Mick Denniston, director of development for Springfield Catholic Schools. “Most schools are connected to a church and a particular parish. The parish system wasn’t working here. School leaders wanted more consistency, better pay for teachers and better books.”
That risk has paid off, school directors say, as the Springfield Catholic School System added a fourth elementary school to the mix March 10. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton will begin offering classes this fall, joining Springfield Catholic Schools’ supporting parishes Sacred Heart, Holy Trinity, St. Joseph, St. Agnes and Immaculate Conception.

The structure
Springfield Catholic Schools has one high school, Springfield Catholic High, and four elementary schools at Immaculate Conception, St. Agnes, St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishes.
The system’s approximately $4 million operating budget is funded by three sources of revenue. Tuition generates 63 percent of the budget, parish subsidies create 33 percent and fund-raising produces 4 percent, according to Denniston.
While fund-raising is on the bottom rung, school officials are working to improve those numbers, specifically with an endowment fund.
The Springfield Catholic Schools Development Board, the fund-raising arm, raised $1.6 million in a 2004 capital endowment campaign and is looking to build on that, said Ann Meese, director of schools.
Raising funds was not always that advantageous.
“If I remember correctly, I think it was mainly financial reasons that we decided to consolidate,” said Bob Vienhage, who served on the school board more than 30 years ago and attended St. Agnes as a youth.
At that time, St. Agnes was the main high school and elementary education was offered at St. Joseph and Sacred Heart. The local Catholic population was small.
“St. Joseph’s was really struggling to stay open,” Meese added. “Older families and a lot of young kids were in the poorer parishes, and I think the pastors and leaders in the schools said we should really be consolidated. Instead of those three individual parishes being responsible, all five parishes took responsibility for the Catholic schools. All five provided financial income, and the school board was made up from all five.”
The high school became known as Springfield Catholic High. The board decision streamlined operations of the separate but connected schools.
“What that meant for us is that we could share resources, share teachers and not be competing for students necessarily,” Meese said. “It also offered the same salary for teachers and the same tuition for all. It enabled the schools to have a consistent curriculum so the students can enter high school with the same level of preparation.”
“The fact it happened 30 years ago was really remarkable,” she added. “There were very few consolidated Catholic school systems in the country. … There are more now. The schools are seeing the need to consolidate.”

The birthday party
School officials threw a 30th birthday party March 19 at Country Road Collection. Denniston asked his friends, Country Road Collection owners Joe and Pat Jenkins, if they would host the party.
“It’s an unusual location for a party but that’s the very reason we wanted to go there – it’s unique and elegant,” he said.
About 100 guests, paying $75 each, were treated to music, hors d’oeuvres from Clary’s and an Irish birthday cake, along with a chance to win a gold and jeweled cross pendant custom designed by Taft Design Studio. New Century Club, one of the Catholic schools’ supporting groups, sponsored the evening.
Pat Jenkins said they were thrilled to host the event.
“We’re as Protestant as we can be, but we love the Catholic community and think that the school does a great job. They are wonderful and disciplined and we applaud their efforts,” she said. “We have nieces and nephews that attend Catholic Schools in St. Louis, and we’ve seen what it has done for our own family.”

Student enrollment
There are 1,360 students enrolled from preschool to grade 12, Meese said. In the last 10 years the schools have grown 50 percent, largely driven by Immaculate Conception, where enrollment exceeds 600, and the high school’s 1986 relocation to east Springfield, off Highway 65.
“We’ve been feeding students into the high school from the elementary schools, and the numbers of students have been slowly increasing,” Meese said. “We expect that will continue as we add classrooms at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. That’s not the case in a lot of systems. Communities all over the place are closing schools, especially in suburbs.”
The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton plan is to add a grade each year up to eighth grade.
“You don’t have to be Catholic to attend St. Agnes or Immaculate Conception schools,” said Meese. “The schools are pretty full or have been for the last five to 10 years. Our priority is to Catholic families. We have a lot of inquiries. Any place we have room, we certainly welcome anyone who wants to attend.”
Class sizes are small, boasting a 13-to-1 student-teacher ratio, Denniston said.
The system employs about 100 teachers and aides, and 20 administration and maintenance staff.

Tuition
As the largest revenue source, tuition generates approximately $2.5 million annually.
Fees range from $90 per month for two-day preschool to $320 a month for five-day preschool. Tuition for elementary school is $2,206 per year and $3,494 for high school students in a supporting Catholic parish. A non-Catholic high school student outside a supporting parish pays $5,050 per year.
Officials are trying not to rely so much on tuition revenues.
“It’s difficult to expand our programs and keep our salaries competitive when we’re relying on increasing tuition. We try to make it affordable to anyone,” said Meese, who graduated from St. Agnes in 1974 and became a Catholic schoolteacher upon graduation from Southwest Missouri State University. “In the next 10 years we plan to make additional major capital improvements to the high school facility. We can’t keep relying on an increase of tuition or we’ll lose ground. Fund-raising is labor- and volunteer-intensive, but our people are amazing at getting things done.”
Springfield Catholic doesn’t have an intensive marketing campaign, Meese added.
“We do some marketing because we are a church-affiliated school. We are not a private school,” Meese said. “We’re called parochial or faith-affiliated. Our primary purpose is to support our Catholic faith.”
Meese said she’s stuck with it so many years because of the family atmosphere among students, teachers and faculty.
“As a student, I knew my classmates and their parents. As a teacher, I knew my students and their parents,” she said. “Now my first group of students – it’s their children that are now attending. We are like a family.”