By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — Financial operations for Scott County Catholic Schools — from tuition to Educational Savings Accounts to payroll to other accounting responsibilities — are now centralized for the regional system.
The schools in the system are Lourdes in Bettendorf and Assumption High, All Saints, John F. Kennedy and St. Paul the Apostle in Davenport. Assumption High is the central location for financial operations, said Andy Craig, co-chair of Scott County Catholic Schools (SCCS). Each school’s principals still handles purchases for their schools “but we facilitate and standardized the process,” Craig said. Each school also operates its own calendar, handbook and dress code.
Tuition has been standardized following committees’ work over the past few years. However, the budget and tuition had to be adjusted for implementation of the Educational Savings Accounts (ESA), which begins this fall. The marketing committee continues to work on advertising and social media efforts. Other tasks for the regionalized system will take weeks, months or years to complete. Meanwhile, common practices and guidelines continue to be implemented.
Among the challenges: addressing the issue of families who have an incoming kindergartner covered by the ESA but whose other children are not covered at this time. “Kindergarten is a big task for us,” Craig said, referring to the ESA issue.
“We continue to grow and work on best practices,” he said, such as hiring practices. “There are lots of moving parts.” Many people have worked hard to make the regionalized system happen. “We thank everyone for their patience. Change is hard for all of us. But there will be a ton of benefits with us being together,” Craig said.
