BY KATHI STEARNS

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--The 12 local committees of the Archdiocesan Schools Committee will be briefed on the current school funding proposal in a series of six meetings to be held in late February and early March.

The following pairings and dates have been announced: St. Jude the Apostle, Sandy Springs, and Our Lady of the Assumption, Atlanta, Thursday, Feb. 20 from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.; St. Joseph, Marietta, and St. Thomas More, Decatur, Thursday, Feb. 27 from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.; Christ the King, Atlanta, and St. John the Evangelist, Hapeville, Friday, Feb. 28 from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.; Immaculate Heart of Mary, Atlanta, and St. John Neumann Regional School, Lilburn, Thursday, March 6 from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.; St. Mary's, Rome and St. Joseph's, Athens, Wednesday, March 12 from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.; St. Anthony's/Our Lady of Lourdes, Atlanta, and Sts. Peter and Paul, Decatur, Saturday, March 15 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

All meetings will be held in the auditorium of the Catholic Center, 680 West Peachtree St., Atlanta. The briefings will be done by Archdiocesan Schools Committee members and run three to four hours.

The membership of each of the 12 committees is local and is to include key constituencies. These include the pastor, principal, parents with children in the school, parents with children on the waiting list or turned away because the school was at capacity, representatives of the general parish community and finance representatives. In the case of St. John Neumann Regional School, St. John Neumann is the parish of reference.

Each local committee has also been asked to designate two official representatives to be members of the Archdiocesan Schools Committee. Because of the latitude committees will have to respond to the school funding proposal, local committee members must attend one of the presentations so they thoroughly understand the current proposal and the data and reasoning behind it.

The 12 local committees will then continue to work during 1997 and have the responsibility to review and respond to the current school funding proposal. The local committees will have to determine whether the proposal is workable for their school or whether portions of it are workable for their school. If the local committee determines that the proposal is completely unworkable for their school, they will have to come back with an alternative proposal for their school. However, the alternative must respond to the archdiocesan goal of providing Catholic education as widely as possible without crippling the parishes financially.

During 1997 the local committees will each meet the first week of the month. Each will then submit a written report to the Secretary of Education including findings and data gathered. The Secretary of Education will compile the information and forward it to members of the Archdiocesan Schools Committee. After the Archdiocesan Schools Committee meets on the last week of the month, the Archdiocesan Schools Committee will return comments to each of the individual school committees, along with a copy of reports and comments from the individual school committees. Reports will be shared so that each school committee will have the opportunity to know what the other school committees are doing.

The archdiocesan and local committees will continue to work on the originally suggested timetable so that discussion and input are completed by June 30 and specific recommendations are forwarded to the Archbishop's Office by Sept. 30 for final consideration, approval and implementation.

Because of the six meetings in February and March, the Archdiocesan Schools Committee will not meet again until March 31.