A big change in the future of Catholic education was announced Monday in the Capital Region: The nearly century-old Catholic Central High School of Troy will merge with St. Ambrose Catholic School in Latham to become Catholic Central School.

Starting next school year, the merger will bring together St. Ambrose's student population from pre-K through grade five and Catholic Central's sixth through twelfth-graders under one roof on St. Ambrose's 19-acre campus in Latham.

Catholic Central has been located in Troy for 99 years.

The merger will provide Catholic Central students access to their own fields for baseball, softball, soccer and eventually football, which could not be done in Lansingburgh.

It will also allow students to enter as a young kids and stay in the same community through high school graduation.

"Catholic education can be very disjointed at times, and we've been able to now offer a product that eliminates those transitions for parents and really sets the road map from the time they are three all the way to 12th grade," said Lily Spera, principal of St. Ambrose Catholic School.

"St. Ambrose is going to afford us the opportunity of having a parish community," said Christopher Signor, Catholic Central High School principal. "In our 99-year history, Catholic Central High School has not had its own pastor, has not had its own church. So this is really a wonderful expansion for our community service, our theology program, for the spiritual development of our children."

The project will unfold in multiple phases, and each age group will occupy their own separate wing on the new campus.