Catholic Schools Face Tight Budgets

Catholic school administrators across the San Fernando Valley are beginning the new year determined to do more with less, as enrollments increase and resources shrink.

“The economy is making it very tight,” said Mary Roehrick, principal of Our Lady of the Valley Elementary School in Canoga Park. “We just don’t have money for extra things. We were hoping to add a part-time music program and buy new desks, but we just cannot do that this year.”

Enrollment throughout the region is expected to increase for the second year in a row, said Patricia Livingston, the elementary school supervisor for the San Fernando region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The increase is due in part to dissatisfaction with public schools and in part to a marketing campaign launched in January, 1992, that flooded the community with advertisements and flyers touting the education at Catholic schools, she said.

“Parents are asking, ‘What’s best for my child?’ ” Livingston said. “They’re very interested in getting a solid education for their children.”

Last year, there were 22,866 children enrolled in Catholic elementary schools in the Valley, up about 1.8% from the previous year.

Although exact figures will not be available until October, administrators predict that enrollment will increase about the same amount this year in the 44 Catholic elementary and 13 Catholic high schools in the San Fernando region, which includes the San Fernando Valley, Palmdale and Lancaster.

But paying tuition for a Catholic education, which ranges from $1,600 to $1,800 a year per student, is getting difficult for many parents.

“We’re struggling to make sure that every dollar counts,” said Sister Donna Hansen, principal of Our Lady of Grace Elementary School in Encino. “For the first time in eight years we didn’t raise tuition.”