Faced with dropping enrollments and rising school costs amid a crippling recession, Cardinal Francis George announced the creation of a new archdiocesan school board to plan a future vision for Chicago's Catholic schools.

John Croghan, a longtime financial supporter of Catholic schools and chair of Rail-Splitter Capital Management investment firm, will serve as chair of the new 23-member school board.

Card. George will act as president of the board, and Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, the Catholic schools superintendent, will be an ex officio non-voting member.
The areas the board will oversee include:

1. Catholic identity,
   
   
2. finance,
   
   
3. institutional advancement and planning, according to an archdiocese statement.

Sr. McCaughey said the board will be charged with implementing new ideas and models for financing cash-strapped schools. She has already expressed interest in exploring charter-school conversion, corporate tax credits and public-private partnerships.

Financial experts on the board include Harry Kraemer, executive partner of Madison Dearborn Partners; James Perry, managing director of Madison Dearborn Partners; and Michael Mooney, vice president of Goldman Sachs.

Educational leaders include Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, president, DePaul University; Rev. Michael Garanzini, president of Loyola University Chicago; and Rev. Timothy R. Scully, director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame.

Other members include Cheryl Thomas, president and chief executive officer, Ardmore Associates; Patrick Hackett, president of HHS Co., a real estate firm; and James C. Kenny, executive vice president of Kenny Construction Co. Jimmy Lago, the chancellor of the archdiocese, will act as ex officio board member.