There was a great discussion a long time ago on AOL’s Ask a Priest Deacon and Father noted something many don’t realize;that many nuns were involved in the education of Catholic schools years ago. They often taught for minimal financial compensation and large class size.
This is one of the main causes of the rise in price of Catholic education. Nuns used to teach in our schools - there aren’t enough of them now. Teachers cost money.
Pretty much all of them…
Yes they are. They are paid volunteers.
Nothing wrong with that. Catholic parishes have all kinds of volunteers. Stewardship = time, talent and treasure.Not entirely. The finance committees play a part. More and more the Diocese is specifying the investment % goals.
That is a misnomer. If all the top teachers are in public schools why are they failing? Catholic schools run circles around publics. One reason is expectations are higher for teachers and students.
I have heard this soooooo many times. The main reason for Catholic school failures is a lack of vision and leadership. In addition, the Catechesis cannot be watered down. Parents might as well send their kids to a public school rather than poor catechesis.
We need to again make it affordable to all parents.
Yes, this is the issue. The cost per pupil in the Catholic schools is not low because of some efficient process of education delivery that Catholics have developed that is rejected by the public schools. It’s that Catholic schools are run on a shoestring and don’t pay anyone market wages. People work at the Catholic schools out of altruism or service.
Yes, budgets are low. Salaries are low. That isn’t being lean. It’s having a different set of circumstances than the public schools.
Catholic schools do not have the open checkbook of levying property taxes.
I am beginning to think that you cant compare the two. I went to my school system’s web site to look at the budget, but I just don’t think you can compare a school system with a 2.5 Billion dollar yearly budget with a single Catholic school or diocesan system.
Also, because they don’t want to be threatened with knives or guns in the classroom, beaten up by students, shot by students, have to teach immoral subjects like how to put a condom on a banana, watch students have sex in the back of the classroom, etc.
Of course $150 - $800 isn’t the cost of educating the child. At our school it’s about $4000 per child. The tuition is subsidized around 30-40% by the diocese. Our paradigm includes mandatory 20 hrs. volunteer from parents, Scrip participation of $4000 a year (depending on what you buy that’s actually around $100-$200 a year in actual scrip purchase), again our tuition is $800. There is still around $2000 per child that needs to be raised every year. This is met mainly by several different avenues of donation from parents/parishioners (tithing, fund raisers, etc). The school (and diocese) are very transparent about where the money comes from, and where it goes. There is some involvement with the state on a minimal level, the speech therapy bus from the public school system for example. And although we have a resource teacher we, and none of the diocesan schools, do not have a dedicated special ed department nor are they equip to handle more than mild disability (learning disabilities, ADHD and other behavioral issues). This is a diocesan school system though, not independently run parish schools. And we are the only school in the diocese on the current funding paradigm that copies Wichita, but we are also the most expensive at $800 ($4000 actual cost). The high school is subsidized by the diocese as well as the city’s parishes, so some money from every parish school goes to the central high school. We’ve always had a strong fundraising culture here, although the demographics of the city are reflected in the schools. They are all good schools, but some obviously benefit from the area of town the parish is located in.
That wasn’t the question.
Depends upon the Catholic school and diocese and whether the school is unionized. My cousin teaches at a school that is unionized and she will receive a pension at the required age. Its one reason she never tried to get a teaching position at the Catholic school closest to where she lives because that parish school is not unionized and hasn’t any retirement plan.
In some areas
Just tossing it out there that you may be right in the overall numbers, but the actual impact is very different in different school districts.I agree. We had my daughter in the local parish school and pulled her out because we were not satisfied with the education she was receiving. She is much happier at the public school, we are satisfied with the education she is receiving. Many parents in our area have also pulled their children from the parish school. When my daughter was in first grade, there were 23 children in her class, that same class is now in the middle school…with only three enrolled students. Its not because the families couldn’t afford the parish school, its because the public school offered a more well rounded education.In some areas
Despite probably qualifying for vouchers, I am very happy with the public schools my children attend and have/will keep them there for the foreseeable future. Most of the parents I personally know seem to be doing the same.
I am thankful I have that choice, because in addition to having a school, our parish also offers excellent religious education classes that my children attend. I am grateful to the volunteers who work so hard with the kids there.
Seems to be pretty reasonable where I live. To give you some perspective, most of the Catholic pre-K’s around here are between $4000-$7000 a year. My parents be helping us out and we will be paying $5400 for my daughter’s Pre-K which is only 3 days a week. (Our school district does not provide public pre-K education, so you have to send them to private institutions.) I currently work most weekends and some evenings as a musician and church musician, but will need to get a part-time job in order to afford this. The most expensive I’ve seen for Pre-K was a little over $10,000 a year. That was a Quaker school where they teach Pre-K kids mandatory Latin then another language (French or Spanish), including other things that you usually don’t get in a typical pre-K. The class size is only about 10-12.
I would agree with that completely. But it does appear that the larger the city or school district the less likely they are to produce a quality education. It also appears the higher paid the public school teachers are, the poorer the quality of education.