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Kathleen Kauth and the Catholic Diocese of Des Moines are looking for a few good companies and hundreds of eager students to start a Cristo Rey college preparatory school.

Kauth has been working since September to determine the level of interest in starting the school, which would be part of the national Cristo Rey Network of schools geared toward low-income students with a desire to obtain a college education.

The study was triggered by Sen. Tom Harkin, Kauth said, who had visited a Cristo Rey school in Chicago and wanted to know why one wasn’t operating in Des Moines.

Des Moines didn’t meet a requirement of the Cristo Rey Network that its schools must be placed in cities with a population of at least 750,000, a number the organization believes is needed to generate enough white-collar jobs for its students.

However, Greater Des Moines boasted the desired density of such jobs, despite its population of about 500,000, Kauth said.

Harkin obtained a $100,000 federal earmark to pay for part of the expense of conducting the study, which was originally geared for the entire state.

Cristo Rey schools are located in 22 cities in 17 states and Washington, D.C. The schools have a longer school day and school year than most public schools and 96 percent of their students are accepted into two- and four-year colleges and universities, according to the organization, which is affiliated with the Catholic church. Religious affiliation is not a condition of admission.

Kauth has interviewed 377 students, with 95 percent saying that they want an education that prepares them for college and nearly three-quarters of them saying they are willing to work for their education.

“If I can get a seventh-grader to say I like that idea (of going to college), that’s cool,” Kauth said.

Parents have expressed support, too. Not surprisingly, a higher percentage of parents than children say they want the kids to be involved in Cristo Rey’s work-study program. All of the 94 parents who have submitted surveys say they want their children to have a post-secondary education.

Most of the children surveyed have been in elementary or middle school. As potential members of a Greater Des Moines Cristo Rey school’s first class, they would enter as freshmen.

Tuition is tied to the average of other private, parochial schools. In Greater Des Moines, that would amount to about $9,000 a year, with 75 percent of it paid through work-study programs. If possible, families are expected to pay the balance.

By having a personal investment in the education, students and parents are saying “I want to be here,” Kauth said. Commitment to education is a key measure of whether students are admitted.

Kauth said it is assumed that many of the students will enter Cristo Rey two or three grade levels below normal. For that reason, academic standing places below desire, behavior and an ability to work independently in being considered for admission.

Students need to demonstrate that they believe a college preparatory education will have a long-term benefit, Kauth said.

The work-study program is beneficial to employers, as well, Kauth said.

For one thing, raising the education level “is just a good idea,” Kauth said. In addition, employers are given access to students of diverse backgrounds, and many of them are likely to return to the local labor market after graduating from college.

“Studies show that low-income children want to stay close to home,” Kauth said. “They’re going to want to come back home after they get their college degrees.”

She also noted that the Greater Des Moines labor pool will be shrinking in the next decade as Baby Boomers retire.

“It’s going to be harder to attract and retain workers,” Kauth said.

While on work-study, four students add up to the equivalent of one full-time employee. Each student will work five days a month at a rate negotiated between the employer and Cristo Rey.(Updated Feb. 8 to correct amount of time each student works.)

In many larger cities, employers are paying an average of $28,900 a year for the full-time equivalency. The rate is based on local conditions; Kauth estimated the Greater Des Moines figure would be between $24,000 and $25,000 a year.

In addition, the work-study students can free other employees to do project-level work.

“These will be motivated workers who want to do grunt work,” she said. “The work the kids will be doing will take the burden off of people who could be doing larger things.”

Hy-Vee Inc. has signed on as the first corporate sponsor of a Greater Des Moines Cristo Rey school.

Sheila Laing, Hy-Vee’s vice president for human resources, said in a letter to Kauth that the company will hire the equivalent of a full-time employee to work in its corporate office or at one of its retail stores.

“We are very passionate about education and embrace programs targeted to the development of building life skills,” Laing wrote.

Kauth plans to meet Wednesday at the Des Moines Marriott Dowtown, 700 Grand Ave., with more business and community leaders to discuss the Cristo Rey program.