From Catholic Schools to Charters: What's Left?

[SuscipeMeDomine]

We don’t bait and switch – our Bishops get up on their hind legs and tell us we have a duty to support Catholic schools, and explain that those schools are for everyone – especially for the poor trapped in the worst schools in the nation.

Frankly, I can’t remember hearing a bishop – my own or one I’ve read about – saying that we need to support Catholic schools for the non-Catholic poor. Mostly what I have heard is pastors of parishes with schools asking parishioners for financial help.

If the Catholic Church, either in general or in a particular diocese, wants to start a new school system to replace the ineffective public school system, more power to them. But I think they need to be clear on the purpose of these schools – whether it’s educating children in the Catholic faith or replacing public schools for the poor.

And I think the bishops and pastors need to make good judgments about whether they can best meet the Church’s mission by running schools or by carrying out other activities.

How best to fix the public schools is a whole other discussion. Archbishop Wuerl seems to be of the belief that charter schools can do the job. I don’t know if he’s right or wrong.

 

[vern_humphrey]

SInce you are all concerned about our children, could you please say a prayer for Catholic home schoolers in California? We are at risk of losing our right to home school due to a judge’s decision on an unrelated (child abuse) case, and now the nation’s best home school attorneys are pitching in to try and save the day. As California goes, so follows the country. Google Home School California and you’ll see the mess we are in.

Our family home schools using Kolbe Academy, classic Catholic curriculum. There is no Catholic school within 1-1/2 hours drive of our home, and with no 2nd vehicle, and a special needs child that most likely would not be accepted in most Catholic Schools anyway, homeschooling is our only option. My little boy has Down syndrome, but thanks to one-on-one attention, he can read, write and knows his Catechism (adapted to his level).

Our public school pretty not only represents the worst case scenario as far as Christian values, but they have proven cases, repeatedly, of abuse to special needs children. My husband is a retired public school teacher himself and worked in the district for a while (retired out of moral considerations), so we aren’t just a bunch of crazy reactionists.

Back to the regular discussion, but everyone, please say a prayer for all Christian home schoolers in California.

sojo

You are already in my prayers. I have been following this case closely and have dedicated a mass to the cause.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Frankly, I can’t remember hearing a bishop – my own or one I’ve read about – saying that we need to support Catholic schools for the non-Catholic poor. Mostly what I have heard is pastors of parishes with schools asking parishioners for financial help.

And that is** exactly **the problem. Catholic schools are basically on their own, to sink or swim as best they can.

If the Catholic Church, either in general or in a particular diocese, wants to start a new school system to replace the ineffective public school system, more power to them. But I think they need to be clear on the purpose of these schools – whether it’s educating children in the Catholic faith or replacing public schools for the poor.

Of course they do – that’s what Bishops are for, to explain things to the faithful and lead them.

And I think the bishops and pastors need to make good judgments about whether they can best meet the Church’s mission by running schools or by carrying out other activities.

How best to fix the public schools is a whole other discussion. Archbishop Wuerl seems to be of the belief that charter schools can do the job. I don’t know if he’s right or wrong.

It’s difficult to imagine a mission that would have more impact - -both on Catholics and on the poor in general – than a strong, thriving system of Catholic schools.

 

[KathleenElsie]

SInce you are all concerned about our children, could you please say a prayer for Catholic home schoolers in California? We are at risk of losing our right to home school due to a judge’s decision on an unrelated (child abuse) case, and now the nation’s best home school attorneys are pitching in to try and save the day. As California goes, so follows the country. Google Home School California and you’ll see the mess we are in.

Our family home schools using Kolbe Academy, classic Catholic curriculum. There is no Catholic school within 1-1/2 hours drive of our home, and with no 2nd vehicle, and a special needs child that most likely would not be accepted in most Catholic Schools anyway, homeschooling is our only option. My little boy has Down syndrome, but thanks to one-on-one attention, he can read, write and knows his Catechism (adapted to his level).

Our public school pretty not only represents the worst case scenario as far as Christian values, but they have proven cases, repeatedly, of abuse to special needs children. My husband is a retired public school teacher himself and worked in the district for a while (retired out of moral considerations), so we aren’t just a bunch of crazy reactionists.

Back to the regular discussion, but everyone, please say a prayer for all Christian home schoolers in California.

sojo

You are in our daily prayers. We have a large group of Catholic homeschoolers and were at the Harrisburg, PA home school conference today 4/5/08. My children and now my grandchildren are homeschooled.

 

[sojo]

Thank you Vern and KathleenElsie for your prayers, and anyone else who is praying for Christian home schoolers in Californias. Vern, offering a Mass is an excellent idea! I’ll do the same.

sojo

 

[annem]

Catholic education in the US is a disaster.

We have this flood of poor Mexican immigrants who cannot afford the few Catholic schools we have. Over 40% of the children being born to these immigrants are illegitimate. And the children, living in poor neighborhoods, tend to fall into gangs or drift into secularism.

Not that the rest of us are much better. I teach catechism to public school children and most will only attend until the end of 3rd grade. That’s when the child has received the Eucharist, so that’s plenty of religion according to the parents. That’s why there are so many “Catholics” who think abortion is just fine and who only show up for Mass at Christmas.

What can we do???

God bless, Annem

 

[Lovemyfaith]

Personally, I would rather donate money to the catholic school system than see that money in the form of taxes go to a failing public school system that seems more interested in spending money than educating children. I am tired of hearing for the past 20 years every politian promise to fix failing public schools and wonder when exactly are they going to get to fixing them.
I trust the catholic school system, which is grounded in faith. I offer up prayers for those children in Washington who will lose their schools.

 

[stbruno]

2 things…Public schools are being built over the place in our city. Huge complexes with fancy outdoor lighting, atriums, fancy ornamental brick work…beautiful buildings. When the teachers in the kdg class went in to set up their classrooms, they were given a box of orange crayons and construction paper. No books, no other materials, not even pencils and writing paper.
The library was furnished with old encyclopedias. The computers were brand new…no software.
But the gym had spanking new equipment. No teacher.
And the school had five administrators for a population of 1000 kids. I don’t get it.

Public schools need to be fixed. Catholic schools need funding to help offset the costs. They are fully equipped in most cases with willing teachers…we need vouchers, so parents can choose where they want to send their kids. That’;s the reality of parental choice.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Public schools need to be fixed. Catholic schools need funding to help offset the costs. They are fully equipped in most cases with willing teachers…we need vouchers, so parents can choose where they want to send their kids. That’;s the reality of parental choice.

The problem is, how do you fix public schools?

I was in high school 50 years ago, when the Russians launched the first space sattelite. I well remember the uproar, and the deterimination to “fix” our public schools.

I remember when “A Nation at Risk” was published more than 25 years ago, documenting what was wrong with our schools, and showing the impact on the nation.

And where’s the fix? How come 50 years has passed, and we’re farther behind other industrialized nations than we were when we began? How come a recent study showed that in the 50 largest cities, the high school dropout rate is around 50%?

It can’t be lack of money – here in Arkansas, the next-to-poorest state in the Union, we pay an average of $9,000 per child per year. And that’s the official figure – schools have access to many more sources of funds, grants, help from business and so on. A recent study in Washington, D.C. (home of perhaps the worst schools in the nation) found that these additional sources of funds can multiply the per-pupil funding by 3. So Arkansas schools probably spend about $27,000 per year per pupil.

If we can’t fix our schools in 50 years, despite spending huge amounts of money, where is the assurance we can fix them at all?

And in the meantime, what do we do with the children – put them in the freezer and thaw them out when the schools finally improve?

 

[oneseeker]

Thank goodness that Catholic schools will accept non-Catholics. Of course, in Oklahoma, they have to or they wouldn’t have enough students to go around. My n-c son goes to a wonderful school, and we do our best to support them. We also pay a fair bit more in tuition b/c we aren’t Catholic. There is NO WAY I would send my son to public school in our district.

Luckily, the parish is very supportive of the school. They are also very supportive of the local food pantries and shelters, far more so than their numbers. It’s one of the smaller parishes.

Just another point of view,
oneseeker

 

[chicago]

Whaddaya know? I’m actually with Vern for once!

It is often suggested that the greatest witness the Catholic Church has to the world is in its unconditional care for those in need… regardless of their religious background. The Catholic school system’s historic ability and willingness to take in poor kids and give them a foothold in this world has been a fantastic example of such. Admittedly, it is both difficult to convince Catholics to commit themselves to this when it isn’t directly benefiting “our own.” And we certainly have much in the way of funding crisis for our Catholic schools, to the point that even many Catholic kids can’t attend the institutions anymore. Perhaps, in some sense, the charter school concept is at least one way for the Church to educate kids while getting some much needed government funding assistance out of the deal. Maintaining our own control and direction can only be helpful. It certainly seems a better option than what is occurring in Chicago, where the old Catholic parish schools seem to get sold or rented out to the public school system, allowing the “rent” to fund the parishes to which the school was historically attached. Indeed, this sometimes makes up the greatest portion of a parish’s annual income. Talk about the government controlling the Church!