BY KATHI STEARNS

Archbishop John F. Donoghue has appointed a steering committee to continue the work of an ad hoc panel trying to solve funding problems of Catholic elementary schools.

The new committee, which has met twice, is exploring solutions other than the one proposed by the ad hoc panel.

Under the panel’s proposal, an endowment fund would have been established to generate 25 percent of the operating expenses of Catholic elementary schools. Revenue for the endowment was to be drawn from a five percent surcharge taken from each parish’s offertory collection; 10 percent of each school’s annual fund; an archdiocesan collection specifically for the support of the endowment; and tapping individual and corporate donors interested in Catholic elementary education.

Archbishop Donoghue is concerned that the proposed five percent surcharge on each parish’s offertory collection would add additional stress to parish budgets. “To impose another tax on the pastors would not sit well … I want to examine other possibilities that would allow us to secure the future of our Catholic schools and build new schools. Whatever decision we make, we must have the pastors on board,” Archbishop Donoghue said in an interview April 27.

The steering committee has been asked by the archbishop to examine or develop other proposals that would result in a fair and balanced financing of Catholic schools.

“I have asked them (the steering committee) to use the ad hoc’s committee’s report as a basis for moving ahead … I really want to get something done on this … I think Catholic schools are the best way of passing our faith to our children,” Archbishop Donoghue said.

One model the steering committee will be examining is the school regionalization proposal which was implemented during Archbishop Donoghue’s tenure as bishop of Charlotte, N.C. The proposal grouped schools in a particular geographic area under the authority of a regional board. The board regulates finances and establishes policies for all schools in that region.

Regionalization brought the Charlotte diocese both uniform salary structures and curricula offerings.

The Charlotte model asks that the parents assume responsibility for the full cost of education in their tuition payment. Families unable to handle the full amount apply for financial assistance through a tuition grant program.

“I asked them not only to look at Charlotte, but what other dioceses have done and see if they can find what is most practical for us,” Archbishop Donoghue said.

The steering committee is chaired by Father Don Kenny, chancellor. Father Kenny explained that the steering committee will explore expansion possibilities, supplemental funding, school governance, sources of tuition funding and the maintenance of quality educational programs. The committee will also poll the pastors for feedback on these issues.

“The committee felt expansion was our number one priority. We believe if we expand people will come forward” who want their children to attend Catholic schools, Father Kenny said.

Other members of the steering committee include: Dr. LaVerne Iaffaldano, former school principal of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Atlanta; Maureen Kane, archdiocesan superintendent of schools; Sister Dawn Gear, GNSH, principal, St. John Neumann Regional School, Lilburn; Father Paul Fogarty, pastor, Holy Family, Marietta; Father Henry Gracz, pastor, St. John the Evangelist, Hapeville; Michael McNamara, chief financial officer of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

The ad hoc committee on school tuition/parish support policies was convened in spring of 1992 under a mandate from the late Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, to address the increasing cost of Catholic education, and current archdiocesan subsidy policies.