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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "WELS Building Early Child Center, New ULM":
In this aspect, elementary education, the WELS is guilty of mission creep. It used to be fairly inexpensive to operate an LES. All that a congregation needed was enough member families. Decades ago, family size was larger. The purpose of the LES was to provide a Christ-centered education the children of the member families. Yes, it was exclusive. This enabled a certain aspect of quality control about it. The school was funded entirely through what was considered congregational operations. Fundraisers were scarce and frowned upon. Parental responsibility and support were emphasized. Extra curricular athletics were not significant. The mission creep has occurred because the emphasis has shifted from serving member families to being missional via community outreach efforts and day care facilities. Yet, with all of this in place, WELS membership numbers continue to decline. Some would argue that there is a latency period between day care and adult membership that is a half of a generation long. This is logical sleight of hand and is only used to rationalize the entire fiasco of congregation operated day care.
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GJ - I received a message from WELS that stated what a great business a parochial school was. Just get so many students at so much per year, and the congregation can hire a teacher. That was in the 1980s.
The use of the term "academy" is proof that WELS wants to make money from the business, so they get a bunch of kids together for day-care and keep the charges low. Ladies in the congregation make money and get expensive benefits. The state is involved because it is a public service, not a church operation. The parish has to subsidize the day-care, so the members have to donate funds for the ladies' jobs and the low tuition. And who are the kids? Most of them are non-members!
They call it a mission project, but it is really a jobs program to help non-Lutheran mothers have a job outside the home, to give members' wives a job outside the home.
Once the synods began seeing schools as a business, everything began to decline. As California has noted, the Wisconsin Synod went from avoiding government support to begging for it. The voucher system in Wisconsin has spawned school as a business, with Mark Jeske taking tax money, foundation money, and Thrivent money.
Voucher money is now a right, so officials must lobby for more tax money to keep their schools going.
At synodical schools, foreign students are called "walking bags of money." An American education is a passport to future influence, so they are willing to pay a bonus for the privilege.
