One of the only two schools still operated by the Catholic Diocese of San Diego faces a demanding deadline in order to stay open. St. Katharine Drexel Academy in the College Area is working to raise half a million dollars and enroll another 30 students by the start of next month. If it can’t, it will have to close by the end of this school year, said Kevin Eckery, spokesperson for the diocese. “Sadly, these decisions are driven really by one thing, and that’s enrollment,” Eckery said. “Unfortunately there’s just been a continuing enrollment problem at St. Katharine Drexel.” Eckery said Katharine Drexel and St. Mary School in Escondido are the only two Catholic schools that are operated by the diocese, which spans San Diego and Imperial counties. There are 41 other K-8 schools that are run and funded by local parishes, plus five high schools that are independently run. Altogether Catholic schools within the diocese enroll about 14,375 students. Enrollment got a bump during the pandemic because Catholic schools reopened sooner than many school districts did. But that surge has now subsided, and enrollment has flattened, Eckery said. The Catholic high schools have waiting lists, but the K-8 schools generally have to work harder in monitoring enrollment and finances, he added. St. Katharine Drexel Academy seen on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025 in San Diego. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) Katharine Drexel serves the mid-city parishes of Blessed Sacrament, Holy Spirit and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The school is the result of a merger more than six years ago of Blessed Sacrament and Sacred Heart schools. Katharine Drexel’s enrollment has only shrunk since that merger. There were 177 students between Blessed Sacrament and Sacred Heart before the merger; when the merged school opened in 2018, there were 150 students, Eckery said. Now there are only 95. The school’s budget is based on having 130 students, and it has run a deficit every year since the merger. The diocese’s recent declaration of bankruptcy — a result of a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits — makes it harder for the diocese to put money into the school, but Eckery said the school’s financial issues are primarily due to the enrollment shortage. Katharine Drexel charges annual tuition of $6,850 per child, with slight per-child discounts for enrolling multiple children.