Faith-based education now more accessible, administrators say
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
The administrators of Burlington’s Catholic schools are united this month in delivering a message that a faith-based, private school education is becoming more accessible than it has been in decades.
The reason, they said, is growing implementation of the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program, which provides tuition vouchers for students from families of certain income levels to attend private school.
“People who want a Catholic education can get it,” said Bonnie Scholz, principal of Catholic Central High School. “This is a huge step forward in terms of accessibility.”
The local schools’ publicity push came during National School Choice Week and is a precursor to the opening of the enrollment period for the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program, which runs Feb. 1 through April 20.
The statewide program, which is in its fifth year, has shown significant growth since it was implemented for the 2013-14 school year. The program had a little more than 500 participants that first year. This school year, the program has more than 4,500 participants, according to the state Department of Public Instruction.
The state program is growing each year as more private schools participate and the state increases the limit on the number of students who are accepted.
This year, local participation was limited to 2 percent of the enrollment in the Burlington Area School District. That will increase to 3 percent next school year and continue increasing 1 percent per year until it reaches 10 percent of respective district enrollment, according to the DPI.
If more students apply than there are available spots, the participants are determined by drawing.
The income limit for participation next year is 220 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $54,120 for a family of four, according to the DPI.
Schools embrace program
All three of the local Catholic Schools are participating in the Wisconsin Choice program this year. St. Charles Grade School has 11 choice students enrolled, followed by Catholic Central High School with seven and St. Mary Grade School with four, according to their respective principals.
The administrators at the three schools expect those numbers to keep rising.
“It seems to be indigenously growing from the grade school level,” Scholz said. “Once a family qualifies, they can stay in the program (even if their income level increases).”
With plans officially announced last week to unify St. Charles and St. Mary schools into a single school (see separate story) and with the presence of Catholic Central High School in Burlington, Scholz said the area now has a unified K-12 Catholic education option.
“We can offer a lot more because of it,” she said. “We’re working together with our resources.”
Loretta Jackson, principal of St. Mary School, said: “The sharing of personnel and all those resources is something we take pride in.”
Scholz said the choice program makes a full K-12 private school education viable for more families.
While the choice program helps students from low-income families attend private schools, there is an added benefit, according to Catholic Central Admissions Director Karen Schwenn, in that it helps stretch available private scholarships that go to students of the three schools.
Schwenn said the Rewald Scholarships and other private foundations provided more than $261,000 in scholarships for this school year at the local Catholic Schools.
“It all feeds into accessibility and affordability,” she said.
See the full story in the Jan. 25 edition of the Burlington Standard Press. The newspaper is available at retail outlets throughout the community.
-
-
-
-
-