U.S. Catholic Schools Hit By Unprecedented Enrollment Drop - Chicago Archdiocese Closing 4 Catholic Schools In Suburbs
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C O R O N AV I R U S 02/08/2021 01:19 pm ET
U.S. Catholic Schools Hit By Unprecedented
Enrollment Drop
Over 200 schools closed or consolidated amid the coronavirus pandemic,
according to the National Catholic Educational Association.
David Crary
00:25
Chicago Archdiocese Closing 4 Catholic Schools In Suburbs
NEW YORK (AP) — Enrollment in Roman Catholic schools in the United States dropped 6.4% from the
previous academic year amid the pandemic and economic stresses — the largest single-year decline in
at
least five decades, Catholic education officials reported Monday.
Among the factors were the closure or consolidation of more than 200 schools and the difficulty for
many parents of paying tuition fees that average more than $5,000 for grades K-8 and more than
$10,000 for secondary schools, according to the National Catholic Educational Association.
John Reyes, the NCEA’s executive director for operational vitality, said the pandemic has been an
“accelerant” for longstanding challenges facing Catholic education.
Between the 2019-2020 school year and the current year, nationwide enrollment dropped by 110,000 to
about 1.6 million students. Back in the 1960s, enrollment was more than 5 million.
With the recent wave of closures, there are now 5,981 Catholic schools in the United States, compared
with more than 11,000 in 1970.
Reyes said they disproportionately impacted urban communities where significant numbers of Black
children, including many from non-Catholic families, attended Catholic schools.
(AP PHOTO/GRANT HINDSLEY)
A photo from July 2012 shows a student stapling colored paper to the wall of a classroom at Our Lady of Lourdes in Los
Angeles. Enrollment in Catholic schools dropped by 12.3% in Los Angeles amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indeed, some of the largest enrollment losses were in big-city dioceses, including 12.3% in Los Angeles,
11.1% in New York and 8.2% in Chicago.
The only big-city dioceses that saw significant increases were in Western cities with large Hispanic
populations: up 5.5% in Las Vegas, 4.6% in Denver and 2.4% in Phoenix.
Elementary
and middle schools were harder hit with a collective enrollment decline of8.1%,
compared
with a 2.5% decline for secondary schools. Pre-kindergarten programs saw the steepest drop, 26.6%
“Declines in enrollment at the primary grade levels may lead to a delayed but significant impact on
secondary school enrollment within the next five to 10 years, proving potentially disastrous for secondary
school viability,” the NCEA said in an analysis of the new data.
Reyes said tuition revenues do not fully cover the cost of Catholic schools’ operations, and yet they are
still burdensome to many families. He said one-third of families with children in elementary school apply
for financial assistance, and 47% of families with children in secondary school.
(AP PHOTO/JESSIE WARDARSKI)
Facilities manager Charles Fabian stands in an empty classroom at Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy in Brooklyn,
New York, on Aug. 6, 2020. In July the Archdiocese of Brooklyn and Queens announced that six Catholic schools in the
two boroughs will close permanently at the end of August due to debt and low enrollment aggravated by the
coronavirus pandemic.
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Reductions
in professional staff — teachers and administrators — were more modest
than
the enrollment
drop, with a 2.3% decline from the previous year. That enabled the nationwide Catholic system to
maintain a student-teacher ratio of 11 to 1, substantially lower than in most public schools.
Reyes said one reason for the relatively modest reduction in staff size was the use of funds from the
federal Paycheck Protection Program in the spring of 2020. Without additional outside support going
forward, he added, there is potential for severe staffing reductions as well as continued enrollment
declines.
“I can’t say that a bounce-back is guaranteed” when the pandemic ends, Reyes said.
Often last year when plans for closures were announced, parents and alumni launched campaigns —
mostly unsuccessful — seeking to keep those schools open. Even in some cases where dioceses had
financial resources available, school officials responded that long-term enrollment trends and sometimes
a need for costly renovations made it unfeasible.
(AP PHOTO/JESSIE WARDARSKI)
A sign made by parents and students of Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy hangs on the fence outside the school
in Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020.
They included some storied educational institutions such as The Institute of Notre Dame, a girls’ school in
Baltimore founded in 1847 and closed last summer to the dismay of alumnae like House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi.
Previously the largest one-year enrollment drop for U.S. Catholic schools was 5.8% in 1971. The NCEA
said it does not have comprehensive enrollment data for years before 1970.Other
significant annual declines were a 2.7% drop in 2003 at the peak of the clergy
sex abuse crisis
and
3.5% in 2008 amid the Great Recession, according to the NCEA.
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