Why We Still Need Catholic Schools | City Journal
The closure of the Jubilee Schools and their conversion into secular charter schools is part of a trend. As Peter Schuck observed in Why Government Fails So Often, the government s decision to fund a service can (and often does) crowd out other providers of a similar service. The charter compromise on parental choice has had exactly this effect, with charters squeezing urban Catholic schools that had long been the best (and often only) alternative to failing public schools for disadvantaged kids. Over the past decade, more than 1,200 Catholic elementary and secondary schools most located in urban areas have closed. Enrollment in Catholic schools declined by more than 400,000 students, or 18.4 percent. From a peak of 5.2 million in the early 1960s, Catholic enrollment is down to just over 1.2 million today, and the number of schools has dwindled from just over 13,000 to slightly more than 6,000. During this same period, more than 2,500 charter schools opened, and charter enrollment increased by nearly 2 million. This Catholic school crisis has many causes, of course, including the secularization and suburbanization of American Catholics; a dramatic decline in the number of religious sisters and priests, which has increased labor costs and tuitions; the lack of affinity for Catholic education among Latinos, who make up a majority of Catholics of childbearing age; resistance among some Church leaders to new models of school governance; and the clergy abuse scandal. Yet even with these factors considered, another important contributor has been a widespread belief among policymakers and education-reform advocates but not necessarily parents, public-opinion polls suggest that charters offer all the school choice we really need.