On Catholic Education

Tonight Bernie came home from T-ball with David with some upsetting news. He was talking to another parent and learned that the principal of the school where David will be attending next year just resigned due to a disagreement with our pastor. The other parent also heard rumors that the school may be closing. Catholic schools are closing at an alarming rate. Catholic education is in deep trouble (although no one calls into question their academic excellence), and the sad thing is that I can see all sides of the issue.

The parents: Catholic education today is expensive. While there is financial aid available, the majority of middle class parents don't qualify. When money is tight, it is hard to find the extra money for tuition. Some turn to homeschooling, others to the local public school.

The pastors: Pastors today must function as CEO's, trying to balance the books which are often in the red. Schools that drain money make that balancing act more difficult.

Principals and teachers: They are trying to provide a quality Catholic education while squeezing every dollar. At the same time, they need to earn a living wage.


Catholic schools were usually founded by members of religious orders who worked for nothing or very little. Obviously with the decline in the number of religious, lay teachers (most of whom are very dedicated and make far less money than their public school counterparts) now fill most roles. They obviously deserve to be paid a reasonable salary. To do less is to devalue their work. At the same time, Catholic education should be available for any family that wants it. That was the original charism and it should continue. Sadly, Catholic education has now become available only to those who can afford it. While there are religious education programs available for public school students which do the best that they can with the limited time and resources they have, and one hopes that children learn much of their faith in the home, this doesn't take the place of a totally faith-based education.

While I am only one person and certainly don't have the answer to this problem, I think some creative thinking is needed. Just recently, Elms College proposed a partnership with Holyoke Catholic (my alma mater which is also in trouble). That is the kind of creative work that needs to be done. I was thinking that there might be some way to have Catholic colleges have a program to produce teachers who would agree to teach in a Catholic school at a reduced wage for a number of years (say 3 or 5) in exchange for a reduction in tuition or student loan debt - kind of like a Catholic school Americorps. That way the costs at the schools could be reduced at least by a little bit. I wish that I had more answers. I just know that something needs to be done.