Catholic school edge, The

Policy Review, Sep/Oct 1996

The Catholic School Edge

Studies have consistently shown that Catholic schools are educating minority students better than their public-school counterparts, despite the fact that per-pupil expenditures in Catholic schools are only one-third those of tax-funded public schools. "Catholic schools succeed where state schools fail," writes Sol Stern, "because they have virtually no central-office bureaucrats telling principals how to do their jobs. In public schools, teachers almost automatically get tenure-a lifetime job guarantee-after three years. Most Catholic schools around the country have no tenure system whatsoever.... And there is no rigid credentialing system: Principals can select teachers for their talent and commitment."

Given Catholic schools' success in educating minority youth, "you might expect that liberals, self-styled champions of disadvantaged children, would applaud [their] commitment and sacrifice," writes Stern. "You might even expect them to look for ways to get government money to these underfunded schools. Instead, they have done their best to make sure the wall of separation between church and state remains impenetrable. Liberal child-advocacy groups tout an endless array of 'prevention programs' that are supposed to inoculate inner-city children against delinquency, dropping out of school and teen pregnancy-yet they consistently ignore Catholic schools, which nearly always succeed in preventing these pathologies."

Stern attributes the lack of liberal interest in Catholic schools to the fact that liberal opinion leaders are closely allied to the teachers' unions, "which have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of liberal candidates around the country." As a result, we are ignoring an inspiring laboratory of reform. "Catholic schools are a valuable public resource not merely because they so profoundly benefit the children who enroll in them. They also challenge the public school monopoly, constantly reminding us that the neediest kids are educable and that spending extravagant sums of money isn't the answer." "The Invisible Miracle of Catholic Schools," by Sol Stern, City Journal, Summer 1996.