St. Monica School Closing: By the Numbers

Details of the Philadelphia Archdiocese's Blue Ribbon Commission on school closings and consolidation tell the tale behind the decision to close St. Monica School and merge it with St. Patrick's in Malvern.

In a letter to parishoners, St. Monica Church Pastor Fr. William Trader detailed the numbers in the commission's report which show enrollment has dropped from 202 students in 2003 to 158 students in 2011. The school includes grades 1-8.

The numbers is the report tell a story of hard numbers that went into the Blue Ribbon Commission's report. The gap between student tuition and what it actually costs to educate a student at St. Monica is widening. According the report, the gap in 2010 (the last year shown in the report) had widened to $3,218. The report shows average tuition paid for that year at $2,235 against an actual cost per student of $5,453.

The report also shows St. Monica School is part of a "cluster" of archdiocese schools that are running at 68% of building capacities. For the 2009-2010 school year (the last year shown in the report for this category) St. Monica was only running at 72 percent of building capacity with a 2010 enrollment of 171 students in grades 1-8.

Click on the PDF to see the Blue Ribbon Commission's report on St. Monica School.