Church Schools Face Challenge From Charters

What an insane system we have when the rise of successful charter schools is hurting successful Catholic schools, at the same time that chronically failing public schools plod merrily along, spending far more than either charters or Catholic schools, wreaking educational carnage of generation after generation of students!

First, the population of nuns began to dwindle. Then, droves of parishioners began moving to the suburbs. Now, Catholic schools around the city are facing a new threat to their increasingly tenuous existence: charter schools.

Governor Spitzer's announcement this month that he is seeking to raise the state cap on the number of charter schools by 150, with 50 of them slated for New York City, had some school choice advocates jumping for joy. Catholic elementary school principals are reacting warily. While happy to see an increase in educational options for parents in the low-income, minority neighborhoods where both charter schools and parochial schools are usually concentrated, some principals are worried that increased competition from charters could exacerbate the enrollment declines in Catholic schools.

The lobbyist for Democrats for Education Reform has it exactly right:

Michael Tobman praised Mr. Spitzer for including in his budget a tax credit for private school tuition.

"Calling for a lift in the public charter cap doesn't come at the expense of also helping families that send their children to private and religious schools — Governor Spitzer has both in his budget," he said.

And here's the Education Gadfly's take on this:

Chartering a course to survival

As if Catholic schools didn't have enough worries of their own (and their Church's) making (see here), now they are fretting over competition from charter schools. In New York City, some parochial school principals are greeting Gov. Spitzer's plan to raise the charter cap by 150 (50 of these new slots will be reserved for the City) with a cold shoulder. "If you had an opportunity to get your child into a school modeled on Catholic education," says Sister Marianne Poole--whose school has been losing children to a nearby charter school--"and it's free, of course you're going to do it." But where the New York schools see gloom and doom, Church leaders in Boston now see a model for renewal (dare one say for rising from the dead?). The archdiocese is consolidating three Brockton schools under one new roof and giving control of it to an independent board of directors. In essence, it's creating a Catholic charter school (see here)--the "district" (the archdiocese) is contracting with a private board to run the school. Said Rev. David O'Donnell, whose school was involved in the merger, "It's like Catholic education on steroids. It's going to be great." The archdiocese plans to expand this model to other schools as part of its 2010 Initiative to revitalize Catholic education. Can we hear a Hallelujah?

"Church Schools Face Challenge from Charters," by Sarah Garland, New York Sun, February 27, 2007

"A New Model for Schools in the Boston Archdiocese," by Katie Zezima, New York Times, February 24, 2007

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Church Schools Face Challenge From Charters

BY SARAH GARLAND - Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 27, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/49336

First, the population of nuns began to dwindle. Then, droves of parishioners began moving to the suburbs. Now, Catholic schools around the city are facing a new threat to their increasingly tenuous existence: charter schools.