As presented today by Nicholas Wolsonovich, Ph.D., superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago, the multi-year Genesis plan seeks to build on the academic strengths of the Catholic school system in the Archdiocese – already the “best school system in Cook and Lake counties,” said Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago -- by proposing new methods for enhancing faith development and a new model for the structure of school funding.

Specifically, the plan includesnew directions and ongoing goals that will help modify school governance, improve instruction, strengthen curriculum, increase professional development for faculty and administrators and utilize networks of educators and other constituencies.

“Over the years, Catholic schools have done a marvelous job educating the young people of the Archdiocese,” said Wolsonovich. “At the same time, we see significant challenges that might affect the way we serve the youth of the Archdiocese, particularly in the area of our schools’ financial viability. Genesis is designed to help us meet those challenges -- and it calls for greater involvement by laity to support our Catholic school children.”

“Years ago, faith-training for Catholic school teachers was never a concern because schools were staffed predominantly by women and men religious who had been formed in the faith by their respective religious congregations,” noted Wolsonovich. “Today, lay people in the schools have taken on that role, and so the Genesis plan calls for the establishment of a new framework to assist our schools, faculty and staff to pass on our faith to new generations.”

Genesis provides opportunities for all teachers to be certified in religion education. Genesis also calls for the development of a new religion curriculum and its implementation in grades K-12. That religion curriculum will be assessed through the use of a standardized test.

As part of its effort to further academic excellence, Genesis calls also for the system-wide implementation of newly developed curricula in language arts, fine arts and social studies in 2006 and 2007. New mathematics, science and health curricula were introduced in 2005.

An additional Genesis goal designed to enhance academic excellence calls for greater inclusion within the regular education classroom of students of varying abilities and learning needs and styles. This effort will continue a commitment to inclusive education furthered by the establishment of two Archdiocesan Centers for Inclusive Education.

Improving school vitality as it relates to funding Catholic schools

“Continuing to address how Catholic education for all our students will be funded is our primary challenge,” said Wolsonovich.

More than a generation ago, tuition for Catholic elementary schools was very low in part because parishes supported the schools. Moreover, tuition for both Catholic elementary and high schools was low because the same religious sisters, brothers and priests -- whose service was so valuable because of their faith formation – worked for virtually no pay as the primary educators.

Today, Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago, staffed mostly by well-educated lay people, have needed to increase tuition and fees to an average of more than $3,000 per year. Since tuition covers 80 percent of the costs to keep schools open, contributions and archdiocesan subsidies pay the rest. Catholic High school tuition and fees in Cook and Lake counties have increased to an average of over $6,700 per year.

These necessary increases in tuition have had a dramatic effect on enrollment in Catholic schools. In 1964, when tuition was very low, archdiocesan schools had 366,000 students. For the academic year 2005-2006, there are 101,894 students.

“There is no doubt about it: as tuition has necessarily gone up, enrollment has gone down,” said Wolsonovich.

To offset the burden for parents of rising tuition costs, Genesis calls for a number of financial strategies, including the establishment of a capital and endowment fund.

In addition, representatives of the Office of Catholic Schools, archdiocesan agencies and other Illinois Catholic dioceses in January will advocate once again for the passage of educational opportunity grant legislation in the General Assembly. This legislation would provide parents the opportunity to choose a private education for their child.

“If there were no Catholic schools in Cook and Lake counties, Illinois taxpayers would have to pay nearly $1 billion a year to provide these same students with a public education,” said Wolsonsovich. “Vouchers offers educational choice and save taxpayers money.”

“What happens in the General Assembly is not in our control; what is in our control, however, is how we as Catholics support our church and thereby support its mission to educate our young people in the Catholic faith,” emphasized Wolsonovich. “The larger Catholic faith community shares the responsibility for the support of the Church’s educational mission. Genesis encourages all Catholics through their parishes to embrace practices of ‘stewardship’ as a spiritual way of life.”

This goal of greater broad-based Catholic support for Catholic education was identified in previous archdiocesan planning processes, most notably in Decisions, initiated by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin to ensure the availability of Catholic schools and to create financially realistic plans to support them. Like Decisions, Genesis is the result of research, input, analysis and reflection by hundreds of representatives from the Catholic community.

The Genesis: A New Beginning for Catholic Schools plan is posted on the schools page of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s web site at www.archchicago.org

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There are 258 Catholic elementary and secondary schools in Cook and Lake counties with a system enrollment of 101,894 students. Elementary student attendance rate is 97% and 96% in high school, with a student-teacher ratio of 18:1. Virtually all those who graduate from Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago go on to high school. Almost 100 percent of the students who enter Catholic high schools graduate and about 94 percent go on to college or university. Regardless of how students perform on national tests at the time they enter Catholic schools, they climb into the 60 th, 70 th, and 80 th percentiles as they move through school. Information on the Archdiocese of Chicago’s 218 elementary and 40 secondary schools can be found at or by calling the Office of Catholic Schools at 312-751-5200.

“ Our Catholic schools constitute the best school system in Cook and Lake counties.”