Catholic Education Planning Process

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is entrusted with educating approximately 19,000 students within our parochial elementary schools throughout the City of St. Louis and 10 surrounding counties.

Our schools allow our children to grow deeper in our Catholic faith, develop a sense of purpose, receive a quality education, join a welcoming community, and feel secure in a dynamic future. However, we recognize that our current model is unsustainable in the long term. Our existing building structures are running at less than 65% capacity and, due to our expansive footprint, many of our schools are facing increased costs that are affecting tuition, declining enrollment often based on geography, increased building maintenance needs, and parishes that are unable to subsidize the cost of a school.

Current Landscape for 2022/2023 School Year:

85 Parish (K-8) Schools
19,315 Students
$50 Million Non-Tuition Subsidy

Steadfast in faith, forward in hope.

In order for us to continue to offer a quality Catholic education while being good stewards of the gifts given to us, we need a new model for Catholic education throughout the Archdiocese of St. Louis that:

Continues to provide for the 19,315 students currently enrolled
Responds to data and trends
Addresses the increasing cost of tuition
Offers better equity in staffing
Provides a more just compensation for our teachers

We realize change is hard and requires courage. We are asking for your commitment to open hearts and reason as we are faced with difficult decisions today that will provide for a more hopeful future for our local Church.

Overview of Elementary School
Subsidy and Enrollment
By Parish and Planning Area

For 2021/2022 School Year

The data that follows provides "Total School Operating Revenues," "Total School Operating Expenses," "Total School Operating (Subsidy)," "K‐8 Student Enrollment," and "Building Capacity" of our elementary school footprint for the financial and elementary school year ended June 30, 2022.

We define "Total School Operating Revenues" as gross tuition we earned through our preschool and Kindergarten‐to‐8th‐grade programs, minus any tuition discounts, plus registration and program fees (such as book fees). Total School Operating Revenues exclude revenues from grants, fundraising and related activities.

We define "Total School Operating Expenses" as costs associated with supporting the ongoing operations of the school. These costs predominately include salaries and benefits for our teachers and related school staff, as well as occupancy costs such as utilities, supplies costs, etc. Approximately 75% of our Total School Operating Expenses relate to salaries and benefits.

We define "Total School Operating (Subsidy)" as the amount by which our Total School Operating Expenses exceed our Total School Operating Revenues. For the year ended June 30th, 2022, our Total School Operating (Subsidy) for the school system as a whole was ($50,402,374). These subsidies are predominately funded through general parish offertories, fundraising activities, and various grants.

We define "Building Capacity" as the total number of students we have the ability to educate within each school building based on number of classrooms and a class size of 25. "Building Capacity" as defined herein in not necessarily synonymous with building occupancy maximum.

The parishes and elementary schools within the boundaries of the Archdiocese of St. Louis are separate and distinct legal entities from the Archdiocese of St. Louis. As a result, their financial statements are not consolidated into the financial statements of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and remain preliminary and unaudited. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the numbers included herein are reflective of those represented on the financial statements and associated records of each individual parish and school. To the extent that errors or omissions are discovered subsequent to this release, updated versions of this data may follow.

Click to Download report as a PDF

School Workbooks

by Planning Area

Click the links below to view and download the PDF for your school.

Please read the notes carefully in each school report and refer to the definitions listed in the section above, entitled "Overview of Elementary School Subsidy and Enrollment by Parish and Planning Area" for important context.

All Things New
Elementary School (K-8) Survey Results
Fall 2022

As part of All Things New, the Archdiocese of St. Louis is examining our parishes, schools, ministries and agencies, evaluating our effectiveness in proclaiming the Gospel. Our goal is to ‘make all things new’ by Gospel renewal and to enhance our evangelization to secure a vibrant future for our current students, as well as their children and grandchildren, by creating an educational model that is accessible, affordable, strong in Catholic identity, and more equitable towards our teachers.

As part of this prayerful discernment, Archbishop Rozanski recently sought additional input and feedback from current parish school teachers, staff and school families about their Catholic school experiences. Nearly 1,900 teachers responded to their survey and more 10,000 parents and guardians responded to their survey by answering both multiple choice and open ended questions.

Below is an overview of all the responses from across the Archdiocese of St. Louis and well as the parent responses to their specific parish school. Each pastor and principal has received the results for their specific school, and parts have or will be shared with teachers, staff and school parents. They have provided excellent and important feedback to the Archbishop regarding the values and desires of our employees and parents as they relate to the future of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

VIew school Specific parent/Guardian Responses

Download the summary Teacher survey Results

Download the summary parent/guardian results

Summary of catholic education consultation process