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By Gretchen Keiser
ROSWELL—Approximately 250 people from the Queen of Angels
School community heard presentations by Archbishop John F. Donoghue and by the
heads of Catholic education and finance May 3 designed to reestablish a working
rapport between the archdiocese and the school.
The archbishop, who was received with a standing ovation, said he
viewed the meeting “as a new beginning ... based on honest
communication” so that both parents and school administrators will have
the “actual information they need to know about their school so they can
be empowered to work with us to solve this crisis.”
The 500-student elementary school was stunned in March when Sister
Patricia Clune, CSJ, founding principal, submitted her resignation, citing a
lack of confidence in the Department of Catholic Education and disagreement
with budget cuts of $300,000 or more per year that she was being asked to make
for the next several years. Her resignation was withdrawn after the archbishop
took a series of actions, including appointing a new Secretary for Education
and two new vicars general.
In the May 3 meeting, his first with parents and faculty,
Archbishop Donoghue said he appreciates Sister Clune’s decision to stay
and outlined a series of actions he had taken “that I hope and pray will
get our Catholic school system back on track.”
The archbishop said he had instructed the Education Department
that neither Queen of Angels nor Holy Redeemer School, Alpharetta, the other
new 500-student elementary school, would have to implement mandatory cuts in
personnel for the 2000-2001 school year, only cuts requested by the principals
themselves. He also said that he has eliminated from the 2000-2001 year budgets
at Queen of Angels and Holy Redeemer a $150,000 contribution to the tuition
assistance endowment fund of the archdiocese.
He has also asked for a review of the $150,000 amount that has
been requested in each school’s annual budget for capital replacement, a
fund intended to set aside money for such major expenses as a new roof or a new
heating or air conditioning system. The review will consider whether $150,000
is too large a contribution per year for a brand new plant. Whatever amount is
decided upon will have to be included in the schools’ budgets.
Archbishop Donoghue said that he “will not ask parents at
Queen of Angels or Holy Redeemer to directly assume the total debt for the
school.” The schools are two of three new elementary schools that opened
in the fall of 1999, funded in part by the Capital Campaign of the archdiocese
and in part by conventional debt. The third is Our Lady of Victory School in
Tyrone.
Archbishop Donoghue said the actions, and the creation of an ad
hoc finance committee with representatives from the archdiocese, Queen of
Angels and Holy Redeemer, were taken to ensure that the schools “continue
to grow and flourish.”
He also asked for forgiveness “for those areas where I have
gone off course or have not communicated well with you” and for an end to
acrimony and divisiveness.
“I ask you tonight to help me carry my administrative
burden,” Archbishop Donoghue said. “Even though I have new leadership
in place and my office has made Catholic education a priority, I cannot
complete this task without your good faith, patience, assistance and
prayers.”
Parents and faculty sat in the gymnasium listening, while the
archbishop, followed by Donald Sasso, newly named Secretary for Education, and
Michael McNamara, chief financial officer of the archdiocese, spoke and
responded both to written questions and to questions from the audience. Also
seated with the archbishop were Msgr. R. Donald Kiernan and Father Paul
Reynolds, the new vicars general, Father Frank McNamee, administrator of St.
Peter Chanel Mission, Roswell, and Sister Clune.
Sasso, who has served as principal of St. Pius X High School in
Atlanta for the past nine years, said, “You have my commitment that I will
join with your representatives to work as hard as we can to resolve the issues
that have troubled us.”
In response to a question, Sasso said that he is in the process of
gathering data from all the Catholic schools of the archdiocese to compare
staffing levels. One of the issues at Queen of Angels and Holy Redeemer
schools, which have significant operating deficits for the 1999-2000 school
year, is the level of staffing and whether it exceeds staffing at comparable,
but older archdiocesan schools.
In an interview with The Georgia Bulletin published April 27,
McNamara said that more staff were hired at the three new Catholic elementary
schools and in some cases at higher salaries than budget projections of the
Finance Department anticipated.
As of March 31, 2000, the Finance Department states that Queen of
Angels had a deficit of $580,995 and Holy Redeemer had a deficit of $657,120,
including, at each school, a projected nine-month contribution of $225,000 for
tuition assistance and capital replacement funds.
McNamara opened his presentation pointing out that from 1950 to
1990, the archdiocese opened only two schools, St. Pius High School and St.
John Neumann Regional School, and closed four elementary schools and two high
schools. Archbishop Donoghue’s administration has made Catholic schools a
top priority, McNamara said, leading to the Meitler study of public interest in
and willingness to pay for Catholic schools. Subsequently a determination was
made to replace the system of parishes subsidizing Catholic education based on
the number of parish children in the schools, with an across the board
assessment of 15 percent of parish income over $250,000, McNamara said.
Under the old system, only parishes with children in Catholic
schools contributed, while under the new system, all parishes, except those
with income less than $250,000 a year, help to support Catholic schools.
With the subsidy replaced with an assessment, parents were also
asked to pay a Catholic school tuition rate that would cover the full cost of
educating a child.
At the same time, the archdiocese embarked upon the Capital
Campaign, which raised $12 million toward the construction of five new Catholic
schools, three elementary and two high schools, and $20 million to endow a
tuition assistance fund to help families pay for the cost of tuition.
McNamara also confirmed other points that impacted the school
budget:
—The three elementary schools were a consolidated financial
model, with cash flows, estimated at $400,000 a year, coming from the two
schools with 500 students to offset an anticipated deficit at the 250-student
school, Our Lady of Victory.
—A plan to use tax-exempt bonds to fund construction was
altered when Catholic missions were opened at the sites of the elementary
schools and gyms used for the celebration of parish Mass. Tax-exempt bonds
carry lower interest rates, but must be used substantially for educational
purposes.
—The tuition assistance fund is also being used as the
“educational investment fund” from which monies to launch future
Catholic schools will be drawn. The contribution to the tuition assistance fund
by new schools was looked upon as a matter of fairness since the debt for the
schools was being borne by the archdiocese.
In a prepared handout, it was reported that as of Dec. 31, 1999,
the “tuition aid endowment fund and education investment fund” had
$27,534,345 in it, including the $20 million endowment from the Capital
Campaign, $5.5 million in parish school assessments and $1.97 million in
earnings. The report also said that $5.38 million had been disbursed for
tuition aid and parish subsidies and $992,605 had been used to pay interest on
school debt. The fund balance was $21.1 million.
In a request for an update on collections from the Capital
Campaign, McNamara said that Community Counseling Services, consultants for the
campaign, advised the archdiocese that 40 percent of total pledges should be
collected at Dec. 31, 1999 and 65 percent at Dec. 31, 2000. As of March 31,
2000, the actual collection was at 50 percent, McNamara said.
One question from the audience queried the large size of the $20
million tuition assistance fund. “It is not only these three new schools
but every school in the archdiocese (applying for assistance),” McNamara
said. “It includes St. Pius High School and the two new high schools that
will be open.” He said $1.2 million was paid out in tuition assistance in
1999 and $1.3 million would be paid out in 2000.
Another questioner said that the $1,000 deposit each family paid
to secure a place at the new school for their child, which would have totaled
$500,000, is not clearly reflected and asked whether a new school would not
show higher expenses its opening year.
“As far as one-time expenses, there are some, but I
don’t think it will make a material difference,” McNamara said. He
also said that a Finance Department member, Barbara Henderson, would review the
placement of the school deposit funds in specific fiscal years.
A questioner also asked why fund-raising done by the Home and
School Association could not be retained in a local account, rather than being
submitted to the archdiocese. McNamara said that the archdiocese has a policy
that all parish funds and all school funds be kept in savings accounts in the
archdiocesan deposit and loan fund. The archdiocese pays 5 1/2 percent interest
on deposits, McNamara said. At the same time, parishes can receive loans from
the fund at favorable borrowing rates. “It is a policy of the archdiocese.
If we had to make an exception for you, we would have to make an exception for
every parish and school,” he said.
Following the meeting, several parents said they still had
significant questions about the financial policies and practices of the
archdiocese.
Larry Schroeder and Peter Hildebrand, talking after the meeting,
said the financial information given out left them with confusion and new
questions.
“I’m glad the archbishop came out. He made some good
statements. For next year I feel pretty good,” said Schroeder, referring
to the plans for 2000-2001 budget. However, he said, over the course of the
whole evening, “I thought the answers were very incomplete.”
Susan Banks, mother of two Queen of Angels students, said,
“There should have been more questions and answers.”
Her daughter is also struggling with disappointment that Blessed
Trinity High School is opening with only a ninth grade when she hoped to be in
the first sophomore class.
“These kids were heartbroken,” said Banks. “We were
promised this for the last three years... A lot of people were waiting until
the principal would be announced ... We were applying late.”
Leaders had unanimous praise for the personal visit by officials,
particularly by Archbishop Donoghue.
“I was very pleased with the candor and openness,” said
Bill Werkheiser, an officer of the Home and School Association who moderated
the meeting. “They spoke candidly and honestly. I think it disarmed just
about everybody ... I would have been hopeful that more questions could have
been asked ... A dialogue with the archdiocese is set up now. We will continue
to work on that.”
“Families have the utmost respect for the archbishop, for the
way he handled this and came up with a plan to handle it,” Werkheiser
added.
Sister Clune said she was impacted strongly by Archbishop
Donoghue’s remarks and looks to the future with a desire to work
constructively on areas of financial accountability in both directions.
“The archbishop’s comments and presentation I thought
were really moving. I was really touched by what he had to say, his willingness
to say, hey, we’re in this together.”
As the ad hoc finance committee continues to meet, Sister Clune
said, she sees the opportunity to jointly brainstorm and look “at every
aspect of what we’re doing. Is this the most efficient, effective,
fiscally responsible way of doing things?” |
