Despite raising over half a million dollars to keep the school open, St. Bede School in Ingleside will close at the end of the academic year due to low enrollment for next school year.
Rev. George Koenue, pastor of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish announced Thursday the private Catholic school would close at the end of the year. As of Tuesday, 119 students had registered for next year, but the school has an enrollment target of 182, according to a news release.
Koeune and the parish finance council met on March 19 and agreed that the appropriate action was to close the school, the release said. Archbishop of Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich accepted the recommendation.
Earlier this year, a community fundraiser for the private school garnered over $500,000 after the school faced a budget deficit from the state tax credit scholarship program, Invest in Kids, which expired in November.
In December, the Archdiocese of Chicago told the school and community that St. Bede would close unless $400,000 was raised to cover the deficit.
Just over a month after a student-started fundraiser launched, the community met and exceeded their goal, and Koeune told parishioners the K-8 school would stay open.
“The loss of the state Invest in Kids scholarship program created a feeling of uncertainty for the school’s future that could not be overcome — even by an incredible fundraising effort,” Koeune said in a letter to the parish and school.
About 15% of students at St. Bede received a state Invest in Kids scholarship, according to Greg Richmond, superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago
“The legislature’s decision to end that program was a blow to those schoolchildren and a contributing factor to the fate of St. Bede,” Richmond said.
Invest in Kids provided tax credits to residents who contributed to a scholarship-granting organization. In return, the organizations provide scholarships for low-income families to attend qualified, nonpublic schools.
Donors who contributed to the St. Bede School fundraiser can either have their donation used to fund scholarships for St. Bede students to attend another Catholic school or can ask to have their donation refunded.
The Archdiocese of Chicago runs 154 Catholic elementary and high schools throughout Chicago, suburban Cook, and Lake counties, serving over 40,000 students.
About 4,000 students across the Archdiocese schools received scholarships from the tax credit program.
Two west suburban Chicago Catholic schools will also close at the end of the school year because the tax credit scholarship program ended, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced on January 18.
Between the two schools in Cicero and Berwyn, 164 students attended through the tax credit scholarship program, the archdiocese said.
chilles@chicagotribune.com
