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Friday, April 18, 2008
The future of Catholic schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With Pope Benedict XVI visiting the United States there’s been a lot of talk about Catholic education in this country.
About 5.2 million children attended Catholic school in the early 1960s. Now enrollment is about 2.3 million. More than 1,300 Catholic schools have closed since 1990, with many of them in cities, according to a new study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. The Washington think tank promotes the benefits of Catholic schooling.
Why the national decline? Experts debate the answer. The Alliance for Catholic Education has said the growth of charter schools in urban areas is one cause.
There is still a strong demand for Catholic schools, particularly in the Southeast as more families move here, according to the National Catholic Educational Association.
More than 11,000 students attend Catholic school in the Atlanta area, according to the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
The archdiocese has opened six schools since 1999. The Notre Dame Academy, an independent Catholic school, opened in Duluth in 2005. (Of the 24 Catholic schools in the metro area, Notre Dame is among six that operate independently and receive no financial support from the archdiocese.)
Do you think we will see more Catholic schools in the Atlanta area? How do Catholic schools remain competitive with the variety of public and private school programs we have today?
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