Racine Religious High Schools Weigh Participating in School Choice

With school choice very nearly a done deal in Racine Unified School District, private school leaders throughout the greater Racine area, including the two religious high schools and an elementary school, are deciding whether or not to participate in the program.

Christopher Olley, president of St. Catherine's High School, said with more questions than answers at this point, board members can't make a decision.

"We just don't have enough information at this point," he said. 

Olley stressed that St. Cat's is not against the school choice program, but they are awaiting final language after the motion is inserted into the state budget and, assumably, passed later this month. Tuition at St. Catherine's will be $8,800 for the 2011-2012 school year.

Racine Lutheran High School is planning to participate come fall, albeit with a small number of students initially.

According to Randy Baganz, executive director, Lutheran's board is meeting in two weeks to discuss exactly how many students the school can accommodate.

"This is coming quickly, but we are in a position to take a few new students this fall," he said. "We're not going to add quickly because we want to go slow and do it right."

Specifically, Baganz said Lutheran is prepared to take 10 or fewer, and the board will talk about how families can pay the tuition above the voucher amount of $6,442. Tuition at Racine Lutheran was $6,795 for the 2010-2011 school year plus $650 in fees.

Concordia Lutheran School has campuses in both Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant. Principal Jeannine Fuerstenau said Concordia has plans to move forward as part of the school choice program but isn't prepared to say how many students they would accept or have room for.

"We have a meeting on June 15 to review all the information," she said. "We'll be able to make a more solid determination at that time."

Tuition at Concordia, which serves kids from pre-school to eighth grade, runs about $3,400 a year.