The local committee also hopes to stabilize student tuition, which has climbed 10 percent to 15 percent in each of the past four years to compensate for a decrease in financial support from the 15 parishes the school system serves, officials said. But that reduction forced the school system to raise tuition, which has hurt enrollment, Gruenewald said. Since 1996-97, Sister Susan said, the system has lost about 13 percent of its students. The current enrollment is 2,007, she said. An enrollment drop at Bishop Soenneker Elementary School to just 44 students, down from 110 students in 1996-97, will force the system to relocate those students after this year, Sister Susan said.
Students are free to transfer to any of the system's other four elementary schools.
The school system leases the school at 3400 Fenmore St. from Precious Blood Catholic Church. We think the growth in tuition has affected enrollment. We want to keep the tuition at a reasonable level. It has not been decided whether financial support from the parishes will be decreased again, Sister Susan said. We'll have to work that out with the pastors in looking at the research that we're doing right now.