Low-income scholarship program awards $3.4 million to diocesan schools

Students and teachers to benefit from generosity of Support for Catholic Schools donors

This year Catholic schools throughout the Diocese of Wichita will seek to form nearly 10,000 students as missionary disciples alive in their faith. Through the hard work of many families, teachers, administrators, and community members, these students are educated in an environment that nurtures faith, excellence, and future opportunity, but there are many challenges each of the 38 diocesan schools face.

One of these many challenges is the financial pressures that Catholic schools confront in order to provide a safe and nurturing educational environment. Offering faculty and staff competitive wages, as well as maintaining the school facility, has caused many Catholic school principals and pastors much anxiety. Particular to the Catholic Diocese of Wichita is its unique emphasis on stewardship and making Catholic school education tuition-free for active parishioners. This reality hits some schools harder than others due to the expense of a school compared with the parish tithe. These schools, pastors, and principals have been stretched in extraordinary ways to facilitate a quality Catholic school environment among these pressures.

However, a small group of donors, numbering fewer than 500, took advantage of a 75% Kansas tax credit that is available to every state taxpayer who would rather redirect all or a portion of their Kansas taxes to Support for Catholic Schools, a local state-certified Scholarship Granting Organization. Support for Catholic Schools raises funds to support low-income students who qualify for free and reduced lunch to attend the Catholic schools throughout the Diocese of Wichita.

Recently, the Support for Catholic Schools leadership team of Executive Director Mike Wescott and Director of Development Matt Vettel visited St. Margaret Mary Catholic School to deliver the $3.4 million award that will be distributed throughout the 38 diocesan parish schools and high schools.

St. Margaret Mary Catholic School is one of three schools in the diocese in which more than 75% of its student body qualifies for Free and Reduced Lunches. All diocesan schools receive funding from the foundation, but for schools like St. Margaret Mary Catholic School, the funding from Support for Catholic Schools’s generous donors has become a financial lifeline that dramatically reduces the school’s otherwise intense financial pressures.

“Prior to funding from Support for Catholic Schools, we lived hand to mouth; month to month. We always felt like we had our finger in the dam trying to prevent it from breaking. Now that more donors have chosen to redirect their taxes to Support for Catholic Schools, the funds received have allowed us to finally feel some financial security and add needed resources for our students. I experience even more hope knowing that this program is growing and I pray that more people chose to redirect their taxes to Support for Catholic Schools.” -FR. NED BLICK

St. Margaret Mary Catholic School Principal Kylan Collins indicates the funding has improved teachers’ lives in tangible ways.

“St. Margaret Mary Catholic School used to offer teachers one of the lowest salary packages in the Diocese. I believe we were the second or third lowest,” he said. “Now that Support for Catholic Schools has been able to distribute these generous donations, we have been able to raise teacher salaries to be more comparable with the rest of the diocesan schools. One teacher shared with me following a pay increase that she was able to move out of her parents’ basement, which she never thought would be possible while working at our school.”

He goes on to say that this is so reassuring because St. Margaret Mary’s teachers are extraordinarily mission-driven. “You have to be mission-driven if you choose to teach in a community like St. Margaret Mary, but now they don’t have to also feel undue financial pressures because of their passion to serve this community.”

Support for Catholic Schools is dedicated to making a quality Catholic education available at all 38 Diocesan schools.

Donors to Support for Catholic Schools receive a 75% tax credit from the state. This tax credit can reduce or even eliminate the taxes owed to Kansas.

Kansas has allocated $10 million in tax credits for this program. They are available to all Kansas taxpayers on a first come, first served basis. Ten other foundations operate in Kansas that compete for the same tax credits.

Vettel suggests that there is much room for growth. “I know there were more than 500 Kansas taxpayers who would have much rather supported low-income Catholic school students than paid their taxes to the state,” he said. “The tax credits are capped at $10 million statewide. Our goal is to help more taxpayers choose to redirect those funds from the state to Catholic Diocese of Wichita schools.”

“Now is the time for donors to contribute,” Vettel said. “The first-come, first-served basis for tax credits means that waiting could mean missing out on this opportunity to make an impact and still having to pay Kansas taxes. Every contribution brings hope and a path to quality Catholic education for deserving children.”