Jul 27, 2023

Greetings,

If you receive emails from the parish, you have had the opportunity to read about some changes coming to our school. St. Sebastian Parish School, which has a strong Catholic identity and mission, has constantly been rated high academically both in achievement and growth and which has a strong culture of family involvement will also soon be much more affordable.

The state of Ohio has made state funds available to all Ohio students regardless of where they attend school. While local taxes will remain at the local schools, state funds will follow the students to eligible schools. The way it will work is that parents apply for the school funding and they will receive a check that they then present to the school of their choice. So far there are no strings attached to the funding such as an agreement to teach something that would be against Catholic teaching. A close eye is being kept on that.

It currently costs the parish about seven thousand dollars per child each year to educate. For those who have paid tuition in the past, it is obvious that our tuition does not remotely cover that cost. The rest is made up from the collection basket. This new program will allow us to charge much closer the actual cost of teaching each child, pay our teachers better, and free up parish funds for other uses while cutting the amount of tuition most of our parents pay.

At a meeting with the Bishop, he expressed his desire that all diocesan schools participate in this plan. Our local high schools have been accepting similar funds for years. It is expected that over the next couple of years most or all of our grade schools will also accept these funds.

Originally, we were going to wait one year as we prepared our school by reviewing our admissions policy and put a strategic plan in place to be able to participate in this program while being sure we would maintain our mission and our strengths. But our parish and school administration worked diligently on the project and we feel confident that we can move forward beginning this year. By participating in this program, most parents will soon be learning how their bill for this year will be reduced or even greatly reduced. At the very least, by participation in this program, we guarantee that nobody will pay more than they expected to spend this present year.

On August 10 there will be a town hall meeting in Zwisler Hall to further explain this program and answer any further questions that you might have. I look forward to sharing this information with you.

IN OTHER NEWS:

PARISH FESTIVAL COMING UP!: Our opening parish festival is coming up next weekend, August 4 and 5. The opening event on August 4 is sold out! The festival on August 5 is open to all. It is hope of the committee to begin this as an annual festival and build it yearly so that it may become our feature event when we reach our 100th anniversary in 2028! Thank you to the committee and all of the volunteers! Looking forward to seeing all of you there.

CHARLIE BULGER: Yes, that was Mr. Charlie Bulger in our sanctuary this past week on a home visit from his studies with the Jesuits! He stayed at the parish once again for a couple of days. Please keep him in your prayers.

FLOWERS: The flowers in the sanctuary are being provided by the cutting garden and arranged by our parishioners! They are beautiful. Thank you. If you have time, I recommend taking a little walk through our garden located directly behind the church.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck