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The traditional parish-based system of running Catholic schools is on its way out in the archdiocese, and a new regional-based system is coming in.
Dr. Timothy McNiff, the archdiocesan superintendent of schools, said that schools will be grouped into 10 regions, all but one geographically based, with boards of trustees appointed to operate the schools within the region’s borders.
All parishes in the regions, including those that do not have a school, will contribute financially to the regional office, and all pastors will participate in the nominating process of trustees.
Three of the new regions—Staten Island, Rockland, and the combined South Bronx and Northwest Bronx—will begin operating as pilot programs in September 2012, with the remaining seven to begin a year later.
The goal is to achieve more efficient and professional management, while generating new funding and relieving pastors and parishes of the financial and administrative burdens of running a school.
“While we recognize there are exceptions, the parish-based school is not sustainable,” McNiff said.
“This new model will help sustain our Catholic schools now and into the future,” he said in an interview Oct. 14 with CNY.
He said regional offices staffed by archdiocesan personnel—including a regional superintendent and a business manager-corporate secretary—will be established to support the schools and the boards in the areas of education, finance and facilities.
Principals will work directly with the regional superintendent on educational matters.
In addition to the three pilot regions, the others are: Manhattan; East Bronx and Northeast Bronx; Central Westchester; Northern Westchester/Putnam; Dutchess; Ulster/Sullivan/Orange; and one non-geographical region, called Partnership, composed of selected inner-city schools in Manhattan and the Bronx.
Each region will consist of 7 to 23 schools. Staten Island, for instance, is among the larger regions, with 23 schools, and Rockland, with seven schools, the smallest.
The boards will include three archdiocesan officials—the archbishop, the vicar general and the chancellor—as members, along with the superintendent of schools or a designee. The three members will be charged with approving trustees and changes that may be made to a region’s by-laws. In addition, the boards will have 6 to 13 other trustees, depending on the size of the region. These will include pastors and lay persons, with clergy maintaining a majority on each board.
Pastors and principals in the pilot regions will receive a packet with guidance regarding qualifications and recruitment of lay trustees, with pastors and clergy on the newly formed boards reviewing the candidates for nomination. A separate nominating process for pastors and clergy trustees is being developed.
The structure involves formation of executive committees of the boards as well as committees of board and non-board members with specific skills and experiences. McNiff said the committees will include Catholic identity, facilities and buildings, finance and audit, marketing and development, nominating, and program and strategic planning.
McNiff said he expects the transition to a regional system to be “seamless” for families and students.
“This is really a ‘behind the curtains’ business model,” he said. “The schools are going to operate the same way and look the same.”
He also stressed that “regionalization does not mean merger of schools, it does not mean families will be told what schools to go to.”
“It’s still a market-driven enterprise,” he said.
Regionalization is the final component of the three-pronged “Pathways to Excellence” strategic plan launched by McNiff’s office in October 2010 and aimed at strengthening and preserving Catholic schools in the archdiocese.
The first component involved strategies to improve academics and leadership in the schools, while the second component dealt with shrinking the system-wide deficits by closing low-enrollment schools.
Regionalization is the governance and finance component of the plan.
“One of the real benefits of this is the new role the pastors will have in the schools,” McNiff said.
“They’ll be shifting from the role of CEO of an individual school, with all of those administrative details, and freed up to do what I think is what they do best—continuing to provide spiritual leadership, sacramental preparation and appearances in the school and religion classes,” McNiff said.
“I think we have an opportunity to really enhance what we call our Catholic identity by shifting the role of the pastor,” he said.
The finance portion of regionalization involves bringing additional revenues into the schools through various new sources: the sale or lease of archdiocese property within a region, a fixed percentage of the funds that parishes submit for archdiocesan administration, and a new parish assessment for schools based on a sliding scale.
The schools will continue to receive tuition revenues and the Inter-Parish Finance Office funds that they have relied on in the past, although that funding has been “significantly reduced,” McNiff said.
He added, however, that pastors who can demonstrate that their current parish-based school works well may choose to opt out of the regionalization. He said he expects that about 12 to 20 schools will make that choice.
Meanwhile, McNiff has been meeting with pastors and principals and also with parent representatives, benefactors and teachers in the regions to explain the new plan. He also has begun meetings in the pilot regions to identify potential nominees for the boards.
Training of the board members will begin in January, with two experienced facilitators overseeing the process, he said. Training will also be held for principals in pilot regions on how to work with boards.
McNiff said that Archbishop Dolan is solidly behind the regionalization and has kept abreast of its progress.
“He has made some important recommendations and suggestions, and is very supportive of the direction that we’re going,” McNiff said.
“He understands completely that what cannot happen is that we remain with the status quo,” he said.
