November 2012 • Number 379
Council for American Private Education
outlookVoice of America’s private schools ★ Report Examines Charter School / Catholic School Interplay he story of a single school exempli- dents in the Albany charter schools, ap- past 10 years (from 2000 to 2010), “One Tfies the findings of a new study on proximately 1,000 students were siphoned Catholic school has closed for every charter the interplay between charter schools and from the Catholic school system.” State- school that has opened.” In hard counts, Catholic schools. For 112 years, Saint Ca- wide, he estimates that about one-third “185 Catholic schools closed in New York simir Catholic School in Albany, NY, was of the current 60,000 students in charter while 184 charter schools opened.” a neighborhood anchor—until it closed in schools in New York State come from 2009. As reported by Abraham M. Lack- Catholic schools. The results have been a Cost to Taxpayers man, a scholar-in-residence at Albany Law slew of Catholic school closings, a drain on When students move from Catholic School’s Govern- government budgets, schools to charter schools, “the cost of ment Law Center, charter school and an enormous their education is now borne by the tax- “Saint Casimir was students in NYS cost to taxpayers. payer.” Lackman estimates the added cost located in a poor 60,000 to taxpayers of the migration of students neighborhood with came from Tipping Point from Catholic schools to charter schools in a median family 18,000 Catholic schools Lackman says New York State is $320 million per year. income of $25,800, charter schools af- But that’s not the half of it. “As more less than half of the =$320,000,000 fect Catholic schools charter schools continue to open, it is es- statewide average of in added annual costs to in stages. The first timated that by 2025 the fiscal burden to $55,600.” Eighty- NYS taxpayers stage involves the New York’s taxpayers will increase to $875 nine percent of the siphoning off of an million per year.” school’s students were African American initial set of students to the tuition-free and 5 percent were Hispanic. charters. But then the effect is ampli- National Picture But as Lackman notes in a draft version fied when the Catholic school’s declining Offering a national perspective, Lack- of “The Collapse of Catholic School En- enrollment reaches a tipping point that man reports that Catholic school enroll- rollment: The Unintended Consequence of forces the school to shut down and the ment went from 2.5 million students in the Charter School Movement,” slated for remaining students to seek alternatives. 1990 to 1.9 million in 2010. By way of publication in the next issue of the Albany The study found contrast, charter Government Law Review, three charter that between 2000 school enrollment schools opened in the immediate neigh- and 2010, Catholic Over the Past Decade in NYS: grew from zero stu- borhood of Saint Casimir, draining the school enrollment in dents in 1990 (the Catholic school school’s enrollment and forcing it to close. New York State fell first charter school enrollment drop In a sad irony, the state has since shut- 34.8 percent, from 35% opened in 1992) tered one of the charter schools “for fail- 275,175 students to Catholic schools to over two mil- ing to provide an adequate education,” 179,310. Just under 185 closed lion students today, and another announced plans to close at one-third of the de- charter schools “exceeding Catholic the end of the 2012-13 school year be- cline in grades K-8 opened school enrollment.” cause of “poor academic performance.” reflects transfers to 184 As Lackman puts it, “It is tragic when a charter schools. Disruptive 112-year-old Catholic school providing a Although some observers of charter Drawing on a concept from Clayton solid education and a disciplined learning schools charge that they weaken traditional Christensen, Lackman describes charter environment is forced to shut down by the public schools, few people, writes Lack- schools as a “disruptive innovation,” pro- competitive pressures of substandard char- man, have pointed out “that charters also viding “a cheaper and, in many cases, less ter schools providing little education and a undermine private schools—especially effective educational alternative to Catholic tumultuous environment.” Catholic schools.” In fact, “in New York schools.” the charter school movement has affected The paper cites other studies on the Not Alone the traditional public schools far less than impact of charter schools, the first being a Saint Casimir School is not alone. it has Catholic schools—whose enrollment 2006 econometric analysis by University Lackman reports that “of the 2,400 stu- has been devastated.” Starkly put, in the continued on page 2
© 2012 Council for American Private Education Scholars Explore U.S. Faith-Based Schools In the preface to their scholarly and impres- chapter on Calvinist Christian schools, for ex- sive two-volume tome on religious schools, edi- ample, talks about the grand themes of scripture, tors Thomas Hunt and James Carper note that particularly covenant and kingdom that carry CAPE member organizations: such schools “have endured periods of open special significance within the community. In a Agudath Israel of America hostility in the past” and even today “remain the chapter on the National Association of Episcopal American Montessori Society object of suspicion and criticism in some quar- Schools, Rev. Daniel Heischman, a member of Association Montessori ters.” Their hope is that The Praeger Handbook CAPE’s board, explains that Episcopal schools International–USA of Faith-Based Schools will help readers “arrive at “seek to be diverse…take the life of the mind se- Association of Christian Schools a better understanding of these schools and their riously…and emphasize service to others.” Irene International contribution to the common McHenry, CAPE’s president, Association of Christian good.” reports that Quaker schools Teachers and Schools The challenge of cover- reflect a “core belief that Association of Waldorf ing faith-based schools in the each person is imbued with Schools of N.A. United States is daunting, a divine essence.” Chapters Christian Schools International given their extensive history on Jewish day schools, Sev- Evangelical Lutheran Church and breadth of influence. enth-day Adventist schools, in America From colonial times, when all Lutheran schools, Catholic Friends Council on Education schools were “to a varying de- schools, Evangelical Chris- Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod gree, faith-based institutions, tian schools, and others help National Association of regardless of sponsorship,” round out the picture. Episcopal Schools to the most recent court Materials from the pub- National Association of decisions affecting religious lisher say that the book “of- Independent Schools schools, the journey has been fers the first current, defini- National Catholic dramatic and fascinating. The tive work on the intricacies Educational Association handbook covers it all: Bible- and issues relative to Ameri- National Christian School Association based schools after the Ameri- ca’s faith-based schools.” By Oral Roberts University can Revolution, conflicts over covering “30 major faith- Educational Fellowship “sectarian” schools in New based school groups and the Seventh-day Adventist York and Pennsylvania, Hor- denominational or ecumeni- Board of Education ace Mann and the common school movement, cal associations that govern or support them, and United States Conference of the Ku Klux Klan’s war against religious schools, by highlighting “the incredible diversity of faith- Catholic Bishops and even the Supreme Court’s 2011 decision on based schools in the nation, including the grow- Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran the status of teachers in Lutheran schools. ing Islamic school movement,” the book provides Synod Schools Essays by various experts explore the rich ar- “the first comprehensive, systematic guide to 33 Affiliated State Organizations ray of religious schools, including the many types the entire spectrum of faith-based schools in the of schools represented by members of CAPE. A United States today.” a coalition of national associations serving continued from page 1 private schools K-12 between 2000 and 2010. Before the advent of Executive Director: Joe McTighe of Kentucky professor Eugenia F. Toma and oth- charter schools, there were eight Catholic schools ers on charter schools in Michigan. That study, in Albany, enrolling slightly more than 1,800 writes Lackman, found that “Michigan’s Catholic students. But by the 2011 school year, four Outlook is published monthly schools had closed and enrollment had dropped (September to June) by CAPE. schools lost one student for every three students gained by the charter schools.” to only 575 students. By contrast, charter school An annual subscription is $35. enrollment in the city climbed from zero stu- ISSN 0271-1451 In a similar vein, Lackman’s paper notes that a recent study by the Cato Institute estimated dents in 1998 to 2,421 in 2010. that “between 2002 and 2007, 27 percent of the Drain on Budgets 13017 Wisteria Drive #457 students who left Catholic schools enrolled in Germantown, MD 20874 nearby charters.” The report states that the shift of Catholic (tel) 301-916-8460 In his own study, Lackman estimates that 30 school students to charter schools “imposes a (fax) 301-916-8485 percent of the K-8 Catholic school enrollment drain on government budgets,” which now must (email) [email protected] decline in New York State over the past decade cover the cost of an education previously covered came from students migrating to charter schools. by private funds. Multiplying the number of www.capenet.org In a special focus on Albany, NY, which the former Catholic school students who are now at- report calls “the epicenter of the charter school tending charter schools (an estimated 18,000) by movement in New York” because it has “far an average per-pupil cost of $17,850, Lackman more charter schools per pupil than any other estimates that taxpayers shell out an additional city in the state,” Lackman reports that Catholic $320 million each year to educate those students. school enrollment in the city dropped 64 percent continued on page 3 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Report Finds Strong Support for School Choice Pro Pluralism The American Federation for Children supported tax credit scholarships, 60 percent Charles Glenn, CAPE board (AFC) published a report recently drawing on endorsed education savings accounts, 57 percent member and professor of educa- data from 15 different polls that demonstrate backed vouchers, and 74 percent supported spe- tional leadership at Boston Uni- “strong support for school choice among the cial needs scholarship programs. An astounding versity, posted a perceptive blog public.” Titled “What Public Opinion Says 85 percent of voters thought “voucher or scholar- last month on redefinedonline.org About School Choice: An Analysis of Attitudes ship tax credit programs should be available in explaining why “school choice is Toward Educational Options in America,” the some form.” Among Latino voters, the numbers good for democracy.” report covers more than a dozen states as well as were even higher, with 91 percent supporting Glenn counters the “persistent the nation as a whole. some form of vouchers or scholarship tax credits, theme throughout the 19th and Summarizing the results, Kevin P. Chavous, 71 percent backing scholarship tax credit pro- 20th centuries” that “a nation can senior advisor to the AFC, said, “More Ameri- grams, 70 percent getting behind education sav- be unified…by bringing its chil- cans support publicly-funded private school ings accounts, 69 percent supporting vouchers, dren together in common schools choice programs than and 80 percent support- that express a lowest-common- ever before because these Percent of Likely Voters in ing special needs scholar- denominator vision of national programs are transforming ship programs. life.” That theme “has especially the lives of children most Five States Who Support... The report also cites a been evoked against schools cre- in need.” He attributed national poll conducted ated by immigrant groups to teach great momentum in the Scholarship Tax Credits - 65% by Education Next, a their children within their own school choice movement journal focusing on religious tradition.” to the fact that “Demo- Ed Savings Accounts - 60% education reform. When Glenn aligns himself with cratic and Republican participants were asked those who consider pluralism to policymakers around the Vouchers - 57% in the spring of 2011 be “a positive social good” that country are recogniz- “whether they would ”allows individuals freedom to Special Needs Scholarships - 74% ing what parents already support or oppose a pro- shape their own lives in terms of know—that all options posal allowing students real choices.” He finds support in should be on the table to attend private schools this passage from political ethics to give kids who are trapped in perpetually un- with tuition paid in part by the government, professor Jeff Spinner-Halev: “A derperforming schools an immediate path to a supporters outnumbered opponents by 20 points pluralistic society is not a place quality education.” (47 percent to 27 percent).” where every institution mirrors the One poll covered in the report was commis- Not surprisingly, the report also found, ethnic, racial, and gender compo- sioned by the AFC and the Hispanic Council “Communities already home to school choice sition of society. … A society that for Reform and Educational Options (HCREO) programs have some of the strongest support for has different institutions with dif- and conducted this past spring by Beck Re- the expansion and introduction of additional ferent audiences, customers, cli- search. It polled likely voters in five states— educational options.” enteles, or students will be more Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, New Jersey, and The AFC report is available at
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notes ★ ★ Hot off the electronic presses, public schools,” Guerra said. “And they’ve says the goal of the 24-lesson curriculum CAPE’s new mini ebook conveys the bene- done a terrific job of forming citizens— is “to have students understand the issues fits of private schools through rich graphics good citizens—for this country.” in all their complexities, be able to clarify and interactive charts. Available in iBook One emphasis of the commission will their own thinking about these issues and, and PDF formats, Private be a focus on school choice as ultimately, care enough to become in- Education: Good for Students, a right of parents, rather than volved in debating these and other public Good for Families, and Good as a means toward educa- policy questions as citizens.” for America compiles the lat- tional reform and efficiencies, To find out more about the project and est facts, figures, and findings which Guerra called “col- to request a copy of “Understanding Fiscal about religious and indepen- lateral benefits.” The com- Responsibility (UFR)” visit