The New York Times reports: More Catholic Schools Closing Across US:
"About 1,267 Catholic schools have closed since 2000 and enrollment nationwide has dropped by 382,125 students, or 14 percent, according to the National Catholic Education Association. The problem is most apparent in inner cities, in schools like St. Monica with large concentrations of minorities whose parents often struggle to pay tuition rather than send them to failing public schools."
A drop of 14% is huge. Catholic schools tend to be one of the cheapest private schools. They do a great job of teaching their students. But many families are no longer able to pay.
It is almost like the government has said yes you can use private schools, but we'll raise your taxes so high that you would be able to afford them.
Sad.
I wonder how many of these parents will turn to homeschooling? It is much cheaper.
(Hat tip: edspresso)
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
2 comments:
I think the Catholic homeschooling community is growing ... especially those with larger families.
I am saddened to see that statistic on schools closing.
Speaking as a Catholic homeschooler, I do think that the increase in homeschooling has hurt the enrollment in traditional parochial schools. But for us at least, it's not simply a matter of finances but rather of the secularization of Catholic schools.
At least in our area, the parochial schools are only nominally Catholic. More than half of the students are non-Catholic and most of the rest are not active members of the Church. The teachers are laypeople rather than nuns or priests and they tend to be "progressive"/"cafeteria" Catholics (depending on one's POV). None of the schools have Mass more than once per week (rather than the daily Mass my DH attended at his alma mater) and several have eliminated it altogether :-(
I only know of 1 Catholic school I would consider to be solidly Catholic, and that's way up in Napa (Kolbe Academy).
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