Bill Turque reports in his June 17 article, “7 Catholic Schools in D.C. Set to Become Charters“, that Assumption, Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian, Holy Name, St. Francis de Sales, Immaculate Conception, Nativity Catholic Academy and St. Gabriel have each been granted approval by the DC Public Charter School Board to reopen this fall as Public Charter Schools. These schools will be operated by the Center City Public Charter Schools, the charter school branch of Center City Consortium, an organization designed by the Archdiocese of Washington to help financially-struggling Catholic schools.
Beyond the problems with accountability that antagonists of charter schools cite as a major problem with the rapid expansion of the city’s charter schools, there are several deeper and more disconcerting issues with allowing schools that are ostentatiously religious to receive public funding. No matter how secular the schools claim they will be in the fall, that cannot change the fact that many of them are based in churches and on hallowed ground. These school will tacitly retain religious character no matter how much they sanitize their grounds.
I have no problem with Catholicism (I was raised Catholic), nor do I have a problem with parochial schools operating as private entities to fulfill a religious mission. The issue is that these failing and struggling schools were probably failing and struggling for a reason. Members of the Charter School Board stated that “their sole responsibility was to approve a responsible plan to help children who were at risk of losing their schools.” Since when is appropriating public funds to assist a privileged-few students who attend a school based on its religious principles considered “responsible”?
Responsible would be noting that private schools operate as enterprises that are subject to the market. When the market says something like, “this company is going out of business”, usually the company is selling a product that is not financially sustainable. These struggling Catholic schools were selling education, and it does not make sense for DC to use public funds to bail them out. Note that the proposal’s approval was accelerated “because the Catholic schools already have buildings, staff employees and students”. Thus, nothing is going to change, except the financial cushion that the DC Public Charter School board is providing.
Just as Video Killed the Radio Star, it seems that the DC Public Charter School Board killed the First Amendment:
Half the rent money going to the seven ostensibly public schools will be redirected by the Archdiocese of Washington to support four schools that remain Catholic schools. Thanks, DC taxpayers!
http://www.examiner.com/a-1455763~Catholic_schools_to_benefit_from_charter_rentals.html
Comment by trulee — June 25, 2008 @ 1:20 am
Thanks for that link. It’s truly absurd that they are getting away with this. I can’t understand how taking facilities management money out of the schools that the money is supposed to help, and giving it to another school in the Archdiocese is allowed. I used to go to Cub Scouts at St. Gabriel. Trust me, they NEED that facilities money!
Comment by philosophunk — June 25, 2008 @ 1:51 am
“Center City Public Charter Schools, the charter school branch of Center City Consortium an organization designed by the Archdiocese of Washington to help financially-struggling Catholic schools.”
I’m not understanding what the Catholics are doing in the charter school business.
How interwoven is the Catholic Church into DC politics? I don’t know much about this.
By the way-wasn’t that the first video to be played on MTV?
Comment by avoicein — June 28, 2008 @ 3:48 am