Freeport’s Aquin High School closes due to shrinking enrollment

FREEPORT, Ill. (WTVO) — Aquin Catholic High School will be closing down due to a lack of enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year.

As of May 1st, there are only 44 students enrolled in grades 9-12 and enrollment for next school year is down to 18 students. Shrinking enrollment has led to fewer extracurricular opportunities for Aquin High School.

Lower enrollment has also resulted in less tuition, increased parish subsidies and a depletion of financial reserves. If the high school was to continue to run into the next school year, the deficit would exceed $400,000.

Students in grades 9-12 will be offered the opportunity to work with the diocese to attend the Diocesan Central Catholic High Schools.

Dr. Kim White, Superintendent for Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Rockford, announced that “After much study and discernment we believe we have developed a way forward to provide the Freeport Catholic community with solid Catholic education rooted in Catholic identity and family values. So today, the Diocese of Rockford is announcing a new model that will be fiscally responsible and educationally sound, offering a curriculum thoughtfully designed to align with core foundational academic content (Religion, English, Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Study Skills) and the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

The new model is intentionally a small school, or a “Micro School” that will offer Catholic education and opportunity for growth as needed in the Freeport area.

This new micro catholic academy will be open for the next school year for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and allows for expansion for grades 9-12 in future years, should that become feasible.

Aquin teachers and staff are being invited to reapply for positions at the new Catholic micro academy. The micro academy will be located in the same space as the current elementary grades.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports.