Yesterday, we saw how the Archdiocese can take the closing of Catholic schools and turn it into a victory celebration (so to speak). However, not everything is perfect.

From my understanding of the situation, the Center City Consortium schools were not funded out of the original education budget. This means that the DC City Council would have to approve supplemental funding, from the educational funding reserve. Is there a possibility that they may not? Maybe.

As part of the plan to convert these schools, in a presentation made by Mr. Duffy, the Archdiocese would lease the school to the Center City Public Charter School (CCPCS) for a term of 5 years, with three additional 5 year renewal periods.

The CCPCS would get
- 24/7 access to the buildings
- pay 100% of the school maintenance (cleaning, lighting, etc.)
- pay 50% of the landscaping and common lighting area
- remove snow, ice, etc. (at apx. 75% of cost)
- allow for off hours scheduling access by the parish.

The parish would have to maintain the building and base systems, such as electrical, HVAC, etc. In addition, they could use the school for CCD, meetings, etc.

Based on this basic agreement, the parish would get between $85,000 to $100,000 in rent for the first year. In Year 2, between $125,000 and $140,000 and in Year 3, between $135,000 and $150,000.

(My guess is that the difference in rent in a given year, may be due to the number of students in attendance.)

Payment is to be made on a quarterly basis starting Nov. 1, 2008, with additional payments on Feb., 1, May 1 and August 1.

However, there is at least one parish that has not received a minimum payment of $21,500 yet. And the word on the street is that they rent may not come in until sometime in the Spring 2009.

Can you guess which one?

The answer tomorrow!