By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — Scott County Catholic Schools, Inc. (SCCS) anticipates implementation by July 2023 of its plan to enhance educational and spiritual benefits for students and families through the benefits of a five-school consortium.
The consortium of Catholic schools in Davenport and Bettendorf officially incorporated in July 2021. The schools are Lourdes in Bettendorf and Assumption High, All Saints, John F. Kennedy and St. Paul the Apostle in Davenport.
Andy Craig, president of Assumption High School and SCCS, said consortium committees have spent the past year and a half developing plans to implement during this academic year or next, depending on the committee and task. Committees cover governance, finance and communication/marketing.
SCCS has been several years in the making and will lead to greater educational and spiritual benefits for students and families through enhanced program offerings, improved efficiencies and resource sharing, common tuition rates and updated facilities, Craig said. SCCS also plans to offer competitive compensation and benefits packages for attracting and retaining top-level teachers, administrators and staff.
While details are still being hammered out, consolidating part of the financial administration for each school is one of the benefits of the consortium, Craig said. The information technology component of the consortium will take more time to implement because of the use of multiple platforms and software. As integration of technology happens, some cost savings are possible, such as purchasing in larger quantities, for example.
Implementing common tuition rates also is a work in progress. “There are five different models for five different schools. How do we make one, global model?” Craig asked, speaking from personal experience. He has a child at Assumption and two in elementary school. Discounts are built into the elementary level for multiple students from a family, but that is not the case when a family has students in both elementary and high school levels.
The SCCS communication and marketing group plans to release an update of the consortium’s progress within the next few months.