Independence Mission Schools plans to become a leader by 2026 in achieving positive educational results for the families who have enrolled 4,000 children at our 14 Catholic Pre-K to 8 schools.
These children are growing up in low-income neighborhoods where resources are severely limited and the public schools are failing. Their families are working hard to escape the cycle of poverty.
IMS leaders have heeded God’s call to work equally hard so that our students develop the strong minds and loving hearts that set them on the path to their dreams.
Guiding those efforts is our strategic plan: Reimagining Our Schools. To fund the plan, we launched The Campaign for IMS 2026 to raise $50 million. Thanks to early donors in the quiet phase, we are more than halfway there.
The Impact We Seek
We expect the impact of fully funding and implementing our strategic plan will be:
- Significant growth in student achievement in math and reading across all grades and all schools
- Improved and stabilized teacher retention — with a focus on quality teachers
- Increased family satisfaction network-wide leading to increased student retention and enrollment growth
- Ensuring facility quality with a fiscally responsible schedule for ongoing maintenance across all schools
- Best practices followed for board governance and management
- Increased financial stability that decreases reliance on private philanthropy for operation
The Progress We’ve Made
Progress to date makes us confident we can deepen our impact.
- Implemented robust data analysis so that student testing leads to rapid adjustments in classroom instruction to meet identified student needs
- Created efficiencies and drove quality improvements by centralizing teacher training, talent (human resources and recruiting), budgeting and accounting, facilities oversight, data analysis, and tuition assistance
- Offered low-income families an affordable, private, values-based education by providing significant financial aid for all who applied for it
- Invested in making urgent facility repairs and upgrades to improve safety and work toward making our schools inspiring places to learn
- Raised more than $87M to subsidize student tuition and central office costs, as well as $11M in Endowment funds that support tuition grants
- Helped pass state legislation that enabled more public funding to flow to low-income students and the private schools that serve them