Second graders in Vicki Jasper’s class at Rosemary School, Fredonia, Mackenna Schueller, Emily Sanders, Isabella Clark and Jenna Schueller, work on an art project, Jan. 22. In an effort to help the small Catholic school, Holy Rosary Parish, Fredonia, held a special collection last August to offer financial assistance to school families. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Arendt)
Rarely is a Catholic school without financial concerns. In good economic times and bad, the need to provide more financial assistance, cut spending, minimize increases, and maintain and increase enrollment – enrollment in archdiocesan schools dropped this school year by 2.3 percent or a loss of 298 students from the previous year – is ever present. Nowhere is this need more evident than in Catholic schools serving rural communities.