CARY - While Wake County public schools are reporting slow-growing enrollments, Cary's only Catholic school is poised for a major expansion.

St. Michael School officials hope to break ground on a new building early next year.

"We are fortunate to still have a waiting list," said Sarah Wannemuehler, principal of St. Michael School.

Not only will the planned building expansion allow wait-listed students to attend the school, but it will reduce the class size, with a maximum of 25 students per classroom.

The school's continuing growth should not be surprising, given that the town is among the fastest growing in the region.

St. Michael lists 6,400 families and approximately 28,000 people as part of its parish.

The existing St. Michael School opened in 2000, as roughly one-third of the original blueprinted buildings. The completion of the final two phases will be the culmination of the original plans. The school's blueprints called for three wings, of which the central part now stands.

The additional wings will eventually sit on either side of the central portion, housing nine additional classrooms, gymnasium with fully-functioning stage, dining hall with institutional kitchen, small chapel, conference room and nursery for the teachers' children.

Tom Karpus, co-chair of the building campaign, said the school's plans will go through an approval process with the town of Cary and the Diocese of Raleigh before construction will begin.

Until the buildings are completed, St. Michael School teachers and students will continue to make concessions. The parish center now serves multiple functions for the school and the church. "If there is a [theater] production, we can't hold athletics. When the church is preparing Thanksgiving baskets, we can't hold athletics," Wannemuehler said.

The younger grades hold gym class in a multipurpose room in the school building which also doubles as a lunchroom. And while lunches are provided by outside vendors, they must be cooked in the parish center and driven across the parking lot, a difficult job in stormy weather.

St. Michael School officials hope to open the new buildings for the 2011-12 school year. The additional space will help the church as well, including facilities for church theatrical and musical productions, events with meals and meeting spaces for Boy Scouts and other groups.

Wannemuehler said the parish and school began raising funds for the addition in 2008.

"It is most definitely harder to get donations because of the recession," she said. "It is a much tighter market, and people have a smaller pool of funds to donate -- I don't blame them. But the priorities of our parents continue to be clear: A strong, faith-based education with academic excellence is something they are not willing to compromise on."

Among the Catholic schools in the area, parents of the roughly 500 St. Michael School students have some of the lowest tuition payments, at $5,310 per year.

"We plan to keep the tuition at a level of what we consider to be affordable to come here," Wannemuehler said. She said the school's governing board has had additional requests for financial assistance, but she added that she keeps the cost in mind.

"It is something that concerns me," she said. "I don't want a Catholic education to be out of reach."