KENMORE — Declining enrollment and increasing costs have spelled the end for St. Paul’s Catholic Elementary School in Kenmore.

The school, which only had 69 registered students for the 2010-11 school year, will close after 111 years at the end of the current academic year.

The decision was made by Father Jay McGinnis, pastor of St. Paul Parish, and the parish trustees after discussions with school parents and school leadership regarding enrollment and financial concerns. The closing was approved by Bishop Edward Kmiec.

St. Paul’s School opened in 1899 with two classrooms. Enrollment peaked at 836 students in 1966. The school currently needs 185 students to balance its budget, but current enrollment sits at 105 students in Kindergarten through eighth grade. With the school looking at such dismal numbers in the face of significant financial challenges, the parish anticipates spending $325,000 — 60 percent of parish income — to meet school payroll for the remainder of the school year.

“We have done a great deal of research and have consulted with diocesan education officials to address the enrollment and financial challenges facing the school,” McGinnis said, “But we have been unable to stem the tide of declining enrollment. As a parish, we can no longer afford to sustain the school.”

Bishop Kmiec said St. Paul’s students who transfer to another Catholic elementary school in the Diocese of Buffalo will receive $500 in tuition assistance from the diocese. “We want to make sure as many students as possible continue their education in a Catholic school,” Bishop Kmiec said.

St. Paul’s currently employs 11 full-time and five part-time faculty members along with four full-time and one part-time staff members. At the end of this school year, the diocesan department of Human Resources will assist faculty and staff members in finding employment opportunities in other Catholic schools.

To help prevent more of these types of closures, Kmiec is requesting that the New York State legislature to approve tuition tax credits for parents of private school students.

“Failure by the state to enact tax credits means our Catholic school parents are doubly burdened by having to pay both tuition and public school taxes. But it also hurts all New Yorkers because across the state, religious and independent schools save taxpayers $8.5 billion a year. Every time a child leaves one of our schools for a public school, the cost of public education rises and public schools become even more overcrowded,” Kmiec said.

He contends that tuition tax credits would provide tax relief to all parents, but especially poor parents, for their educational expenses.