WEEKEND FESTIVAL Fund-raiser helps to keep St. Anne School operating

School officials had to overcome a $73,000 deficit.
AUSTINTOWN -- Community members helped keep a school open by attending this weekend's festival at St. Anne Ukrainian Catholic Church, Byzantine Rite, church officials said.
The festival earned $55,000 for St. Anne School, said Mgsr. George Appleyard, church pastor. He said that amount was needed to keep the school open.
"The public rallied," he said. "It was quite a nail-biter."
The annual festival typically earns about $40,000 for the school, Mgsr. Appleyard said.
Friday night's stormy weather had school supporters concerned about festival attendance, and some parents crying, but crowds still came out Saturday, Mgsr. Appleyard said.
The school is funded using revenue from tuition, the festival and from other fund-raisers. Parents also have decided to pay an additional $300 a year in tuition to keep the school open.
Because of declining enrollment and increases in the cost of health care and utilities, school officials gave serious consideration to closing the 38-year-old school at the corner of Kirk and Raccoon roads, Principal Lydia Hammar has said.
Mgsr. Appleyard said that school officials had to overcome a $73,000 deficit this school year to keep the school open.
"If we did not meet that deficit and had to carry it over to the next academic year, it would be a cannonball shot in the bowel of the ship," he said.
Tuition for pupils in kindergarten through grade six will be $1,885 annually as a result of the tuition increase, Mgsr. Appleyard said. He said it is still the lowest among parochial schools in the area.
There are 82 children in kindergarten through sixth grade. The school is losing about 20 of those pupils when the school year ends next month, however, mostly through graduation, Hammar has said.