This past December, our State Legislature passed a proposal, advocated by the Governor, to establish charter schools in New York State.
Charter schools are publicly funded but run independently from the regular public school system. They are designed to be more flexible and innovative, less dependent upon administrative bureaucracy, and more responsive to community needs.
The premise behind the charter schools is that they provide healthy competition to the traditional public school model and students benefit from such competition.
Catholic schools
Quite frankly, charter schools, in a sense, are not really an innovation for New York State. We have had them for over a century-and-a-half. We call them Catholic schools.
Catholics schools historically have been innovative and creative in helping immigrants to assimilate into our culture while retaining their ethnic and religious heritage...schools which have empowered students to rise out of poverty and climb the ladder of success...schools which integrate knowledge, values and truth in a holistic approach to living and learning...schools whose success is built upon high academic standards, parental involvement, community support, firm discipline, respect for each student and his or her potential, and the imparting of religious values as the foundation for personal and social growth and development.
Locked out
Unfortunately, however, Catholic schools will not be eligible to participate in charter school reform because the new legislation explicitly excludes religiously sponsored schools. As George Will noted in his syndicated column (Nov. 28, 1998), this denial of educational freedom of choice in education stems from the so-called "Blaine Laws," which are a product of 19th-century nativism.
In 1855, the Protestant majority in the Massachusetts Legislature amended that state's constitution to bar citizens from receiving public funds for nonpublic schools, including parochial schools. Will points out: "At the time, every member of the Massachusetts Senate and all but four members of the House were members of the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing party, as was the Governor."
Caught up in the fervor of the time, Representative James G. Blaine of Maine, the Republican leader during the Grant Administration, tried unsuccessfully in 1875 to pass a federal law like that of Massachusetts. But 36 other states, including New York, adopted their own "Blaine Laws." A 1967 ballot initiative proposed by that year's State Constitutional Convention to amend New York's Blaine law failed miserably at the polls.
For the foreseeable future, then, Catholic schools, at least in New York State, are not likely to enjoy public funding except for ancillary assistance, such as bus transportation and textbook aid.
Parental rights
This is most regrettable since it denies to parents the very right which charter schools seek to uphold -- namely, an education truly responsive to a student's needs. We will continue to advocate for the rights of parents who choose a religious education for their child to receive public funding for such education through vouchers or tuition tax credits.
Whether this right, which is recognized by every industrialized Western nation, becomes a reality in New York, there remains a firm commitment on the part of our Diocese to continue to offer the track-proven and time-tested gift of a Catholic school education to the students and parents of our Diocese.
For the past several years, after a period of mergers and closures, our schools have enjoyed a renaissance. Enrollment declines have been reversed, and over the past two years there have been additions to or substantial renovations of 10 schools within the Diocese, with three more on the drawing board.
Hence, as we celebrate our annual Catholic Schools' Week, we can do so with confidence that our Catholic schools remain vital and viable. While barred from public funding, they continue to respond to the felt needs of today's parents.
Top ten list
Consider the following ten reasons which parents offer for why a Catholic school is right for their child, cited by Robert J. Kealey, executive director of the Department of Elementary Schools for the National Catholic Educational Association:
1. Catholic schools have a proven record of academic excellence.
2. They work closely with parents in achieving the best for the child.
3. They build upon the religious formation begun in the home.
4. They offer a rigorous curriculum.
5. They have clear and concise goals.
6. They provide a challenging environment.
7. They maintain a secure environment.
8. They deal with the issues of the day and show students the application of Christian principles to those issues.
9. They have teachers who believe that all children can succeed.
10. They provide a person-centered, Christian-values-orientated education.
Successful schools
I can testify from my visits to our schools that these expectations of parents are being fulfilled. I am pleased, for example, that this year all the Catholic schools in our Diocese are participating in the Sweat-Free Schools' Campaign, wherein students are sensitized to the issue of the exploitation of child labor, both here and abroad, in the production of certain clothing and athletic apparel, and hence refuse to purchase such products.
Every Catholic school in the Diocese is involved in some outreach projects for the poor, either locally, nationally or internationally. All of our schools participate in the efforts of our Catholic School Office to enhance the Catholic identity of our schools and to strengthen the linkage between our schools and our parishes.
And all are committed to provide the finest academic education which enables students to pursue the careers of their choice. The scholarships achieved by our students and their success in their chosen fields of endeavor are a testimony to the high quality of academic instruction in our schools, but even more important, to the moral and spiritual values inculcated.
I hope and pray, then, that as we stand on the threshold of a new millennium, there will be a renewed commitment to support and maintain that premier vehicle for handing down the precious heritage of our Catholic faith -- the Catholic school.