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!

Can Catholic Education Survive in the Archdiocese?

Over the last two to three weeks, the Catholic Standard (the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington DC) has run a number of articles on the City Center Consortium and the closing of a number of Catholic Schools.

Let’s take a moment to recap.

Approximately ten years ago, the Archdiocese (under his Eminence Cardinal Hickey) set up the City Center Consortium to provide the needed resources to ensure that Catholic schools remain a viable alternative to the public school system in Washington, DC. The Consortium stared with eight schools and later added another six. During that time, over $60 million were pumped into the Consortium.

This was a great idea – to continue to provide the needed resources to Catholic schools in the inner city, which were trying to stay afloat. Part of the thinking at the time (and I remember this) was to show that Catholic schools could produce a quality-learning environment to those who had the least choices. In addition, if these schools became a model, then others who may have hesitated sending their children, would do so. A sort of “build it and they will come.”

Unfortunately, a number of things changed over those ten years (according to the Catholic Standard) to put us in the situation we are today:

- 10% decline in the population of the District of Columbia;
- 11% decline in school-aged children;
- 19% decline in enrollment; and,
- An increase in the number of tuition-free public charter schools.

Because of all of these things, the Archdiocese via the Consortium was simply hemorrhaging money. This year alone, they will be in the red apx. $7million and over $56 million over the next 5 years (at the current rate).

To be continued…