The Continuing Issue of Financing Catholic Schools

 Why Saving Catholic Schools From Covid’s Impact Is A National Imperative

 The Catholic schools debate continues.  I read this article (above) today from, of all places, Forbes magazine, as posted by my Knights of Columbus Council 4438.  Very thought provoking.  What do you think?

I have traditionally been very much against government funding for our Catholic schools for one simple truth - he who pays gets to make the rules.  And I firmly believe that our bishops have collectively dropped the ball on any effort to reinvent how our Catholic schools are managed and financed in a way that meets the needs of the 21st century while keeping them viable and affordable for all Catholic families.  That said, some of our own schools have fired people who, in any other circumstance, would have been protected by federal and state laws, and it makes me think that perhaps some equity might be achieved by having some state intervention.

But rather than relying on self-sufficiency (a Catholic hallmark in the US for centuries), our bishops have decided to seek to feed from the government teat.  OK.  Perhaps that can work.  It works in the UK.  BUT, are we also prepared to compete with all those other Protestant schools that will now open up under these same government funding programs?  

Most of you reading this may not remember what happened in the 1970's and 1080's when forced integration became the law and "busing" of students from one neighborhood to another was the the new normal (that is, white kids being bused to inner city schools, and children of color being bused to suburban schools - you may have heard Kamala Harris discuss this during the early Democratic party debates).  As a result, enrollment in Catholic schools jumped, and many Protestant churches which didn't have schools, built schools to meet the demands of their congregations.

Due to the outcry of white suburban voters, however, these "busing" laws were eventually overturned in an cry for going back to  "neighborhood" schools.  The hardest part of this argument is that the ideal of a neighborhood school isn't in and of itself racist.  Unfortunately, one cannot ignore the fact that at that time, and still today, our neighborhoods were and remain segregated due long standing systemic issues (which is why the courts determined that integration was necessary).  Regardless, busing ended and eventually these families flocked back to public schools.  Enrollment in Catholic schools declined (helped in part due to continual raises in tuition) and the vast majority of those Protestant schools closed.  I remember witnessing this personally as I watched some schools get built from the ground up only to have those facilities close some years later.

Here's the biggest problem we Catholics face:  We spend too much time looking back instead of looking forward.  We spend too much effort working within the box instead of looking outside the box for solutions.  

In the 18th and 19th century Catholic education grew out of a need to have Catholic kids education (because in many cases they were not allowed into public schools).  In the first half of the 20th century our Catholic schools grew and thrived on pure grit, learning to do more with less (remember mimeographs on "recycled" paper?) while delivering academic superiority.  Tuition costs remained minimal because any number of religious sisters and brothers were the de-facto slave labor force that ran these schools.  

So similar to how the end of slavery forced the economies of the Southern US to adapt, the cultural revolution of the 1960's saw Catholic schools having to adapt as many of these sisters and brothers sought secular opportunities that previously were not  an available option.  Catholic schools adapted by hiring lay people (at barely livable wages) and raising tuition to pay for it.   But what was supposed to be a short term solution became a long term systemic issue.  Affordability, along with the doors of free public education open to all regardless of race or creed had Catholic families turning away from Catholic education for a more affordable option.

Yes, our bishops have tried to address the "affordability" problem with individual financial aid programs and some poor parish financial welfare programs (like "Together in Mission"), but these programs are just band-aids that fail miserably to address the root problems and do little to seek consensus on a workable national solution.  In 1985 the Catholic Diocese of Wichita (http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004a/032604/032604ssh.htm) undertook a bold experiment to offer a tuition free education to all Catholics through tithing all Catholics (with or without children) in order to fund their schools.  This program has had to evolve over the years but the understanding of "tuition" is reserved for only non-Catholic families seeking to join the school (much like the word "tuition" was never used in the California State University system until the turn of the century, where now what was once forbidden is now the rule).  What should have been a model for all US diocese, this experiment, to my knowledge, has never gone beyond the Diocese of Wichita.  And I have not personally heard any other bold experiments like this to make Catholic schools truely affordable.

So now our bishops turn to the government for help.  With all this chaos, I for one am grateful that my family's journey through Catholic education is coming to a close as my youngest child begins her junior year in a Catholic high school.  20 years, two kids, and a quarter million dollars of family treasure later I am still convinced that a Catholic education is the gift of a lifetime, and we as Catholics must keep it alive and vital.  But we desperately also need to find ways to finance this without putting all the burden on just those Catholic school families who seek this option in education.  

I honestly don't know now if government funding is going to be a long term viable option.  It completely upends what education in America, and Catholic education in particular, has meant for over 200 years.  Then again, maybe this is the sort of upheaval we need, with competition forcing our public schools to reinvent themselves in a way that trims bloated bureaucracy while still meeting their mission to educate everyone.  All I can say is hang-on, it's going to be a bumpy ride!  I just hope there's a viable Catholic education option by the time my children's children are ready for school, allowing us to continue a tradition that goes back to my grandparents.