BY GRETCHEN KEISER

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--A desire for more Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Atlanta is preceded right now by a more basic question: How will the Catholic school system of the future be funded?

This question has been the subject of debate and discussion by several different archdiocesan task forces over the past five years. While each formula proposed had its support group, no formula was broadly endorsed.

Most recently a survey of parental preferences in the archdiocese in 1994-95 again shows that there is a base of support for more Catholic schools. But that support is tied to the rate of school tuition that would be charged in the future.

Should the tuition increase to as high as $4,000 per year per child in Catholic elementary school, the survey indicates only one or two new Catholic schools would be filled in the next 15 years.

If tuition were as low as $2,500 per year per child in elementary school--a future rate seen as unrealistically low by archdiocesan officials--the survey projects that more than 10 new Catholic schools could be filled with students in the same 15-year time period.

As a result of this disparity, the archdiocese has again placed the issue of school funding on the front burner. This time the archdiocese is trying to put forth a plan that will move from discussion to action.

"What is evident is that the schools can't continue indefinitely on the present course," said Msgr. Edward J. Dillon, vicar general, in an interview Oct. 19.

"I am convinced the average parishioner has no idea of the amount of money parishes are having to spend to keep our schools functioning even at the present level."

The current formula for funding Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Atlanta is as follows: Parents of the child pay an annual tuition rate, which varies from school to school; in addition, the home parish where the school is located pays for the upkeep of the school and any capital improvements; third, the home parish of the student pays a per-child subsidy to the parish where the school is located to absorb the difference between the actual cost of educating a child and the current tuition.

For example, a school like St. Thomas More in Decatur draws children from its parish, but also children from parishes without Catholic schools such as Corpus Christi in Stone Mountain. Corpus Christi parish contributes a subsidy to St. Thomas More for each Corpus Christi child attending the Decatur school. That is in addition to the tuition paid by Corpus Christi parents for their children at St. Thomas More. St. Thomas More also supports the school.

The only elementary school in the archdiocese not using this formula is St. John Neumann Regional School in Lilburn. This school, built in the 1980s, was not built as a parish school, but as a school serving all the parishes in its region.

It is the current three-pronged formula of tuition, home parish support, and per-child parish subsidies, that has been debated for many years.

Msgr. Dillon said that he is convinced that this formula cannot sustain the archdiocesan school system in the future because the parish cost in the equation has risen so high.

"If we keep doing what we are doing right now, we will not be able to maintain the schools we have, much less expand," he said.

And it is the desire of Archbishop John F. Donoghue and archdiocesan officials to open more Catholic schools in the future, Msgr. Dillon said.

As a result, a proposed restructuring of the Catholic elementary school system and of the funding formula is on the table.

The design of such a restructuring is at the present time being discussed with groups of key people, such as pastors and Catholic school principals.

There is no specific plan, Msgr. Dillon emphasized. However, there are some concepts that are in place.

They include the following:

--The regionalization plan that was enacted in the Charlotte, N.C., Diocese under Archbishop Donoghue is being examined for any way that it can serve as a partial template for this archdiocese.

--The proposed regionalization in the Archdiocese of Atlanta is aimed at the elementary schools only. St. Pius X High School, the only archdiocesan Catholic high school, already operates in a financial manner that is somewhat similar to the Charlotte model.

--At the present time all of the elementary schools in the archdiocese are being considered for inclusion in a regionalized system. St. Mary's School in Rome and St. Joseph's School in Athens, because of their geographic distance from metro Atlanta schools, are more challenging to include in a system, but have not been eliminated from consideration, Msgr. Dillon said.

St. Anthony's and Our Lady of Lourdes in Atlanta, which have had low enrollment in recent school years and frequent turnover in leadership, may have to be treated as a special case but are still part of the overall plan. "We believe that we have both of those schools stabilized now with the present leadership, that enrollment is picking up, and that both of these schools are viable," Msgr. Dillon said.

--The present arrangement whereby every family with a child in Catholic elementary school receives an identical amount of parish subsidy, regardless of the family's means, is seen as a luxury that cannot be sustained in the future. Any future funding formula is more likely to require families to seek tuition assistance by demonstrating financial need than to receive the subsidy across the board.

--There is still a desire to make the Catholic school system available to families from a wide spectrum of income levels. There is a belief that a new funding system is needed to make the schools affordable at a diversity of income levels.

The Charlotte plan does not have a child-by-child parish subsidy of school tuition. Tuition is set based upon the cost per child of Catholic school education in the regional system. Then a significant financial aid pool created by contributions from parishes is made available to families who cannot afford the full tuition cost. This is only offered to families who are participating parishioners in Charlotte parishes. There is also a higher tuition rate for non-participating members of parishes and for non-Catholics.

In Charlotte, parishes continue to support Catholic school education after regionalization, said Dr. Michael Skube, superintendent of schools in Charlotte. The parish support is placed in a general financial aid fund for the assistance of children from parishes in the region who need aid to offset the actual cost of tuition.

Financial assistance is given to approximately 40 percent of families with children in Catholic schools in the Charlotte region.

The Charlotte experience is heartening, Msgr. Dillon said, because the diocese has been able to open more schools and increase the school enrollment by approximately 25 percent.

The Charlotte model brings the schools in one geographic area of the diocese together into a regional system. That system includes one high school, one middle school and five elementary schools. The system has uniform teacher salary schedules, uniform tuition rates, and uniform curricular offerings. There are also differences based upon the needs of the students in individual schools.

There are 10 Catholic schools in the Charlotte Diocese that are not part of the regional system because of geographic location.

In the Archdiocese of Atlanta at the present time each elementary school has its own budget, sets its own tuition rate and adjusts teacher salaries and curricula in light of its financial status and other variables.

St. Pius X High School sets tuition based upon the cost of educating a child. The archdiocese provides an annual subsidy of approximately $350,000 that is used to provide tuition assistance to families, Msgr. Dillon said.

The recent proposal by a national researcher to fund future Catholic schools in the U.S. through increased stewardship in parishes is valid, but is slow to materialize, the vicar general said, commenting on an article in the Oct. 19 Georgia Bulletin.

In the article Seattle research analyst Joseph C. Harris, studying Catholic school funding on a grant from the Lilly Foundation, said that schools could be significantly better funded if Catholics increased their parish giving from an average of one percent of their income to an average of two percent of their income.

Msgr. Dillon said that if every Catholic household in the archdiocese increased its stewardship to two percent of income school funding would be addressed effectively. But currently only about one-third of archdiocesan households plan their giving to the church and give two percent of their income or more.

Harris also urged support for tuition vouchers.

"We would be in favor of some kind of aid to parents," such as a voucher system, Msgr. Dillon said. "But to base our future planning on the thought that some kind of voucher system will be available is pie in the sky."

The discussion of school funding and structure is continuing in meetings to be held with school principals and with pastors and parish leaders in the future. School principals were to review some of the financial aspects of school funding with Michael McNamara, archdiocesan chief financial officer, Oct. 26.

Dr. Skube is scheduled to discuss the Charlotte regionalization model and experience in a Dec. 1 meeting with pastors, school principals and parish leadership, Msgr. Dillon said.