Charter schools called threat to Catholic schools
The Archdiocese of Baltimore has refused to sell or lease vacant school buildings to charter schools because it has found that charter schools are siphoning students away from Catholic schools, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The decision highlights the sharply conflicting approaches that U.S. dioceses are taking to competition from charter schools, since Baltimore’s next-door neighbor, the Archdiocese of Washington, turned over seven of its former schools to be used as charters. My own diocese, Brooklyn, is very active in leasing properties to charter schools – encouraged by Mayor Bloomberg, a big supporter of charter schools.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore will no doubt take some heat for resisting the rush to charter schools, which are publicly funded. But I think it is a thoughtful stand.
Charter schools, pet projects of both powerful foundations and powerful elected officials, have produced mixed results. In many ways, they emulate Catholic schools and so are drawing away students who might otherwise go to the Catholic schools. The foundation and government officials who are pushing charter schools – the Gates Foundation, the Obama administration, and others – have an obligation to face up to the fact that they are contributing to the demise of Catholic schools.
Perhaps this decision in Baltimore will help them to realize what they are doing to the Catholic schools.
Update: The Sun ran a statement from Archbishop Edwin O’Brien saying that the Baltimore archdiocese is not refusing all requests to lease to charter schools. Rather, it has refused to do so in one specific case. (Thanks to Jack Barry for noting this change in the comments.)
The foundation and government officials who are pushing charter schools – the Gates Foundation, the Obama administration, and others – have an obligation to face up to the fact that they are contributing to the demise of Catholic schools.
I am not sure why. It would seem to me that if what Catholic parents value is the quality of education at Catholic schools and not the “Catholicness,” and if they send their children to charter schools as an alternative to Catholic schools, then why should those who are not Catholic worry about the demise of Catholic schools? Or more simply put, if Catholics don’t value Catholic education, why should anyone else?
I got an excellent education in Catholic elementary school and high school, but it was also inexpensive, since it was back in the days when nuns and brothers were the rule and lay teachers were the exception.
Mr. Nickol, my sentiments, exactly.
Paul,
Catholic schools are certainly a favorite of yours. You are correct in that the Charter schools are taking away from them. Yet we need to take a look at the likelihood that Catholic schools are a testament to the ineffectiveness of parish priests who generally let the nuns evangelize (that’s how it began) while they make their royalty appearances. The problem with the parishes is that they are not communities and the pastors do little to build up the gathering (definition of church) but still stick with the ex opera operato magic, which is that the celebrant’s hands do wonders. So why evangelize. It is basically a theological deficiency which we need to continually address. When we had an abundance of clergy, the clerical group did other jobs like teaching, and other things. Celebrants need to build up the community. Catholic schools should not be the focus.
David —
the argument would be that Catholic schools in urban areas have a decades-long track record of academic success (whether students are Catholic or not), but it’s hard to compete with upstart schools that claim to be successful (that’s yet to be seen for many of them) and that are free.
Without a strong and persuasive case to parents that the “Catholic” part of a Catholic school matters, a lot of parents will dismiss an academic track-record they may not see as all that meaningful and take a chance that the unproved but free charter school will be “good enough,” especially if they themselves are the products of a crappy public school system.
A Baltimore Sun editorial opinion offers a perceptive argument against the Archdiocese’s current stance. It sees an institution “huddled in a defensive crouch, not one that believes it has something unique and important to offer.”
Most parents seem to seek educational quality, atmosphere, affordability, and accessibility to suit their individual children. When the parish and archdiocesan educational systems can no longer make their case of uniqueness and special value to a Catholic audience in the world as it is today, they are in a losing position. (Unlike in the old days, most parents no longer hear the priest give some reminder about “our school” at Mass every Sunday. It would be very surprising if parish Mass attendance and school enrollments were not roughly related.)
Blaming foundations and government officials for contributing to “the demise of Catholic schools” ignores the dominant roles of Catholic archbishop, archdiocesan policies and practices, pastors, and principals. David Nickol is right.
The parish I grew up in closed the school and sold the building to a charter school. While I understand these charter schools can pose a threat to parish schools, looked at in the right way, they might also provide an opportunity to reinvigorate parish life. The issue I see with the arrangement in my old parish is that the parish is failing to”capture” the charter school students and parents and engage them in the parish. Here is a fully enrolled school, right next to the church and physically on the same grounds of the parish complex (Church, school, rectory, convent).
If I were the pastor in that church I would set up a Catholic preschool and afterschool program in the empty convent (programs that would include religious ed in addition to everything else you get in those programs) I would have all kinds of youth programs, scouts, CYO basketball, whatever. (I would also try to get a community college to offer evening programs in some of the underutilized church space as well). Targeting the youth and their parents would bring new people and new energy into the parish I think.
I also think the parish could have set up its own charter school in the old school; if it’s economically viable for the entrepreneur who is operating the new school, why couldn’t it have worked for the parish? And then the parish would have still owned the real estate.
I think there could be a lot of opportunity in these charter schools if we looked at it in the right way.
If the mission of Catholic schools is to form the children of Catholic parents in the parents’ faith, then charter schools are not a competitor.
If the mission of Catholic schools is to provide an alternative with a proven track record of academic achievement to ineffective/failed urban public school systems, then charter schools are definitely a competitor.
If the mission of Catholic schools is to provide a safe, humane and loving learning environment for children of local families to learn and grow, then charter schools are a competitor.
If the mission of Catholic schools is to evangelize the Catholic faith and Catholic social teaching to the local community, then charter schools are a competitor.
If the mission of Catholic schools is to be a sacramental presence of the Body of Christ in the secular world, then the charter schools are a competitor.
What is the mission of Catholic schools?
Catholic schools are kind of like the opera, the ballet, and the symphony orchestra.
Several things:
The Archdiocese of Baltimore is in process of Catholic school consolidation and before one judges the goals there, one should read both the admirable strategic plan and vision statement from last Marc h and June at their website.
We have discussed charter schools here several times and the issues surrounding them, including accounatbility issues, are also complex.
It must be conceded that the refusal to sell to the charter school generated poor publicity, but i question whether one can appreciatively judge that action without a fair view of the background.
I also think Baltimore”s consolidation/school closing plan seems clearer and better based than New York”s.
The mission is irrelevant if the archdiocese cannot find the funds to execute it. The track record is inspirational, but the track on which it was accomplished is gone, as are many of the means which made it feasible (nuns, adequate parish support, full schools).
A 40-page report for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in June 2010 on the future of local Catholic education opens with a summary of the serious challenge (pp. 5-6). Recently, the Archbishop published his views on past benefits and hopes for the future, emphasizing contributions to impoverished communities and the need for funds from outside the customary Catholic community. Prospects for success remain to be seen as the plan is so new. It is not clear how keeping charter schools out of the immediate neighborhood will help the archdiocese enlist the moral and financial support it needs for its school system to survive.
Apologies. Second link above should be
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bs-ed-catholic-schools-20110129,0,7135439.story
The goal of public school boards is to provide the best education possible for their students. If charter schools are the way to do that these days, then it makes perfect sense for them to move to charter schools.
On the other hand, if the Catholic schools go out of existence, the public schools will have to take them in. This will, of course, require more taxes, so no matter which way you look at it, the failure of the Catholic schools will cost the public money, including the building of larger and/or more schools.
On the other hand, if all the schools, BOTH public and private, go to a voucher system, then at least the public system would not have to build new schools to accomodate the Catholic kids — the parishes already have the buildings.
In other words, a voucher system wou be to the advantage of both public and private schools. Also, the failing public schools would go out of existence because the parents of public school kids would also have choice.
I say vouchers are the way to go for everyone involved. The schools in New Orleans had been failing for a couple of generations. The State of LA took them over two years before Katrina. After Katrina almost all of the public schools became charter schools, and it looks like the system is going to work well. Before the storm system around 50% of public school kids were getting really bad educations. Since the storm, only 20% are getting bad educations. They’re trying to figure out why the success. Charter schools seem to be at least part o the answer. If this proves true, then itis inevitable, I think, that other cities will go that route, and they *should*. but in fairness, there should be vouchers for the parents who want a different sort of school — religious ones.
No, taxes can’t go to paying for religion classes. (Under the GI Bill it was allowed, but I’ll never understand why. This would mean that the religious school kids would get somewhat smaller vourcher. But I daresay that most parents would cheerfully pay the difference for religion classes, while letting the taxpayers (including themselves, of course) pay for the rest.
I am the Pastor of a Parish in the Diocese of Brooklyn which is leasing its school building to a Charter School. The Parish school was over 70% non Catholic at the time of its closing with very few of the Catholics from the Parish. The board of the Charter is composed predominately of members of the Parish. They contracted with National Heritage Academies to run the day to day operations. The curriculum is positive and consistent with Catholic values. Financially, 40% of the income from the school goes to a fund for local Catholic Children to attend the local Catholic Schools. Without the 60% of the income that is retained by the Parish it might very well be forced to close.
No solution is perfect but this seems to support neighborhood, if not Parish, Catholic education and gives struggling parishes a chance to be both viable and vibrant.
The Archbishop of Baltimore writes again today (3/18) to clarify his view on charter schools. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-obrien-letter-20110318,0,6902033.story
The immoral atheist government school monopoly, and the culture of corruption that perpetuates it, pose a grave threat to the rights of children and families, and to the future health of our society. This evil archaic system must be razed. Charter schools are a woefully inadequate solution, but at least they are on the right side of the battle. Let us attack the real enemy, not a natural ally. That’s just nuts.
I don’t understand j.a.m.”s rants and think it was nuts.
Jack Barry deserves credit for providing up to date information on the Baltimore scene and the wide ranging view of the Abp.
The PR problem by the refusal theremay not be so bad. The larger questions of the priorities of Catholic schools (and the funding thereof) and the accountability of charter schools still remains fuzzy.
My view is that The Baltimore archdiocese continues to try to grapple with these as best as possible and we would do well to be informed as much as possible about what happens there and in our own bailiwicks.
” Financially, 40% of the income from the school goes to a fund for local Catholic Children to attend the local Catholic Schools. Without the 60% of the income that is retained by the Parish it might very well be forced to close.”
I’m aware of this arrangement in the Diocese of Brooklyn. It comes at a time when the diocese has also announced that it will no longer subsidize parishes. I have to wonder if, given the economics, this combination is speeding the dismantling of the Catholic school system.
The revenue-sharing formula was created by Bishop DiMarzio after a Brooklyn diocesan committee formed to come up with a plan to preserve the Catholic schools was opposed to the bishop’s plan to work with Mayor Bloomberg to create charter schools. The committee was largely composed of Catholic educators.
Catholic schools (of the primary and secondary variety) will stand or fall based on the commitment of Catholics to those schools. Most of them were built at a time when the parishioners were not middle class people with decent to substantial incomes. They sacrificed to provide that they thought (or at least were told) was the right kind of schooling for their children in light of the overwhelming anti-Catholic ethos in US society and educational systems.
Now that most (at least white) Catholics are accepted and middle to upper middle class members (in the main) of the church, where is that commitment? Methinks is has taken second place to the SUV, McMansion, multiple electronic gadgets and vacations to far away and exotic places. When Catholicism is no more than a cultural veneer in the lives of people they will not sacrifice their conveniences for what they don’t really value.
Without massive diocesan, parish and foundation subsidies, Catholic schools are simply unaffordable to most families. No wonder they choose charter schools – for the same reasons they might have chosen Catholic schools in the days of yore when they were in fact affordable due to low or no wages paid to the religious who staffed them. Now the church’s challenge will be authentic and effective faith formation for children who no longer are a captive audience in Catholic schools. How will we do it/ Who will do it? And, a sidelight, how will non-english speaking imported clergy help with the task?
Thanks to Jack Berry for keeping this discussion updated and focused. Catholic schools educate lots of non-Catholic kids, some of whom receive a subsidized break on tuition and other costs – all of which is an undoubted community service. I doubt if anyone would argue the contrary.
But there is a problem when the heavy hand of doctrine interferes with service to the larger community. Catholic hospitals, since Phoenix, now have to contend with the question, who decides what care you will get, your doctor or the presiding Bishop? In Denver last year, a parish priest, with support from the Archbishop threw a little girl out of a parochial school because her parents were a lesbian couple. Is this going to become the wider future of Catholic education, thanks to the litmus test used to appoint the current crop of hard-right bishops? If so, Catholic education likely will wither away – no matter what educators think and parishioners want.
Let’s see: is the idea that Catholic schools have a vested interest in the failure of public schools? That once public schools do what they should be doing they become “the competition” and must be discouraged via turf wars? What happens to the children in this scenario? What happens to Christian values? i am confident that every city has plenty of children who can benefit by a Catholic education and that the Church should figure out a way and places to enroll and teach them. My grade school alma mater is doing just that in Des Moines IA, as part of an inner-city inner-parish Foundation that teaches more children with more native languages than any other grammar school in that state. Tuition is $1500 a year; most cannot pay.
All children need our support to receive a good eduction.
Is yesterday’s article in the NY Daily News about the mom who teaches at the soon to be closed St. Sylvesters on Saten Island reading a letter to her just graduating from college daughter to think about teaching in Catholic school.,something of a window on how the Archdiocese there is “managing” school closures?
Of course, we still don’t have athread on the Abp on the 60 minutes show Sunday, but the leadership by happy go luckyness on display there, seems quite thin!