Are charters enough choice? School choice and the future of Catholic schools.

• Author: Garnett, Nicole Stelle
• Position: Symposium: Educational Innovation and the Law

INTRODUCTION I. CATHOLIC SCHOOLS, CHARTER SCHOOLS, AND THE "CONVERSION" DEBATE A. Catholic Schools B. Charter Schools C. "Religious" Charter Schools and the "Conversion" Debate II. CHARTERS ARE NOT ENOUGH CHOICE A. The Charter-Choice Debate B. School Choice Without Catholic Schools 1. School Choice and the "Catholic School Effect" 2. School Choice and Neighborhood Social Capital 3. School Choice and the Rule of Law 4. School Choice and Educational Pluralism CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION

Padua Academy--an Indianapolis charter school--opened in August 2010. Technically speaking, that is. Until May 2010, a Catholic school--St. Anthony Academy--occupied the same school building. Catholics will immediately notice the connection between the names of the charter school and its Catholic antecedent. Both were named for Saint Anthony of Padua--a thirteenth-century priest renowned for his preaching, who is popularly revered as the patron saint of lost things. (1) The nomenclative similarity between Padua Academy's sister school, Andrew Academy, and its Catholic predecessor, St. Andrew/St. Rita Academy, is even more readily apparent. This is not mere happenstance. In 2010, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis decided to close St. Anthony and St. Andrew/St. Rita and reopen them as charter schools. The Archdiocese justified the decision as a means of "saving" the schools, explaining, "[m]any urban Catholic schools are closing across the nation, and we did not want to leave the students or communities we currently serve.... Through this transformation, an urgent and unmet need within urban Indianapolis will be filled." (2)

The "transformation" is a curious one. Much has changed inside the walls of these two school buildings since May 2010. Most significantly, religion has been stripped from the schools' curricula and religious iconography from their walls. Still, the schools' day-to-day operations continue to be directly managed by the Archdiocese, students continue to wear uniforms; and the schools educational culture continues to mimic in many respects the traditional "Catholic school" formula--high expectations for both student academic performance and parental involvement, a disciplined and orderly school environment, and an emphasis on character education. (3) Moreover, the Archdiocese offers religious education classes after school for charter school students, and, while attendance at these classes is not mandatory (and cannot be, by law), participation rates exceed fifty percent at the predominantly Latino Padua Academy and falls just shy of that level at Andrew Academy, where the student body is predominantly African American and non-Catholic. (4)

Padua and Andrew Academies are, in some respects, sui generis: the Archdiocese of Indianapolis appears to be the only diocese in the United States directly operating charter schools and also appears to be the only diocese that provides after-school religious education targeted specifically for charter school students. The facts underlying the Archdiocese's decision to close St. Anthony and St. Andrew/St. Rita, however, are anything but sui generis. At least 1600 Catholic schools, most of them located in urban areas, have closed during the past two decades, displacing over 300,000 students. The persistence of the financial and demographic realities underlying these school closures suggest that this trend will continue and even accelerate in the coming years. (5) The Archdiocese of Indianapolis also is not the only diocese to consider "converting" its inner city Catholic schools to charter schools rather than close them altogether. Although such conversions are controversial in Catholic education circles, the financial realities facing many dioceses and the concomitant desire of bishops to avoid abandoning inner city neighborhoods suggest the number of charter conversions likely will increase in coming years. Even in dioceses that do not intentionally convert their schools, many charter schools will--and already do--operate in closed Catholic schools. School buildings are, after all, ideal locations for schools.

Catholic and charter schools are linked in a number of other underappreciated ways. To begin, charter schools, which are free, compete with Catholic schools, which are not. And there is little doubt that the declining enrollments in Catholic schools are at least partially attributable to the rise of charter schools. As Diane Ravitch has observed, "[w]here charter schools are expanding, Catholic schools are dying." (6) Second, charter schools not only operate in closed Catholic schools, but the leasing revenue generated by this arrangement may incentivize some school closures. (7) Third, as Catholic schools close, charter schools are filling the resulting educational void by providing alternatives to traditional public schools. Charter schools, rather than Catholic schools, are becoming the dominant schools of choice in many inner city communities. Finally, and importantly for purposes of this essay, in education-reform debates, charter schools are often cited as a means of capturing the educational benefits of school choice without enlisting private schools, including Catholic schools, through voucher or tax-credit programs. (8)

This Essay is, in essence, a response to this final, "charters are enough choice," argument. It proceeds from the simple (and, in my view, regrettable) reality that current education policy in most states offers Catholic school leaders an unacceptable ultimatum: if you want access to public education funds for your schools, then secularize and relinquish control of them. As a result of this ultimatum, Catholic schools will continue to close by the dozens in the inner city neighborhoods each year, and many of them will be replaced by charter schools, either by design or default. For reasons articulated below, Catholic schools' departure is a loss for civil society, especially for the urban communities where they have served for decades. Furthermore, it is a loss that could be mitigated by school-choice devices that make private schools financially accessible for the children living in these communities who desperately need the high-quality education that Catholic schools have long provided.

Building upon the reality of Catholic school closures--and, in some dioceses, their conversion to charter schools--this Essay makes a case that charter schools are not enough choice. Charter schools are, by and large, a valuable addition to the American educational landscape and a critical piece of the education-reform puzzle. But, urban Catholic schools have long been, and remain, a critical piece of that puzzle as well--a piece that will continue to gradually disappear absent a shift in education policy embracing school choice. Thus, making public resources available to students who wish to attend private schools likely will have the important side benefit of stemming the tide of Catholic school closures, thereby helping to preserve the very schools with arguably the most successful track record of educating disadvantaged children and that, as my own research with Margaret Brinig suggests, are important incubators of social capital in struggling urban communities.

The Essay proceeds in two parts: Part I provides a brief overview of Catholic and charter schools, and the connections between them. It also describes the legal landscape governing the "conversion" of Catholic schools to charter schools, the reasons why this option is attractive to many Catholic leaders, and the forms that such conversions have taken. Part II canvasses the evidence suggesting that Catholic school closures are a source of serious concern for urban communities and uses this evidence to expand the case for comprehensive school choice.

1. CATHOLIC SCHOOLS, CHARTER SCHOOLS, AND THE "CONVERSION" DEBATE

   This Part provides a brief overview of the phenomena underlying this Essay--Catholic school closures, the ascendancy of charter schools, and the decision of some dioceses to relinquish control of their schools and convert them to secular charters.

   1. Catholic Schools

      Beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century, Catholic bishops, responding in frustration to widespread anti-Catholicism and pervasive Protestant indoctrination in the nation's fledgling public schools, began to demand that every Catholic parish build and support a school. (9) As a result, by the middle of the twentieth century, many American cities were densely blanketed with Catholic schools, including, in some neighborhoods, multiple schools serving different ethnic groups. (10) This system thrived until the second half of the twentieth century, when the number of religious sisters, who had long staffed parochial schools for little more than a "token wage," plummeted and Catholics suburbanized en masse. Together, these phenomena caused urban Catholic schools to experience dramatic increases in labor costs just as collection revenues declined precipitously. (11) Dioceses were forced to take on more of the financial burden of operating urban parish schools at the same time they were obligated to build new schools in the suburbs. The urban parochial model began to unravel, and dioceses began to close schools in large numbers. (12)

      Many urban parochial schools, however, survived. Gradually, schools built to educate working class Catholic children adapted to and excelled at a new role of educating poor, and frequently nonCatholic, ones. These schools remained open thanks to the "sweat equity" of pastors, administrators, teachers, parents, financial support from dioceses, and, increasingly, private philanthropy. It was these schools that were the backdrop of the studies, discussed below, demonstrating the benefits of urban Catholic schools, especially for disadvantaged minority children. Recognizing the value of these schools to their communities, some bishops committed to keeping them open no matter how desperate...