Number of Catholic Schools Closing Climbs 50 Percent from Recent Years

According to the National Catholic Educational Association, about 150 Catholic schools closed over the summer, amounting to approximately 2 percent of the 6,183 schools in operation last year, reported The New York Times. This number is up at least 50 percent from recent years, said Kathy Mears, director of the NCEA.

“Enrollment at Catholic schools in the United States peaked at 5.2 million nationwide in the early 1960s,” reported the Times. “But as the percentage of practicing Catholics has declined across the United States, so has the number of children enrolling in Catholic schools. Enrollment for the 2019-20 school year was down to about 1.7 million.”

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the financial pressure on Catholic schools, reported the Times. Many parents can no longer afford the tuition. Moreover, philanthropic funding has dried up.

An additional challenge for Catholic schools over the past twenty years unmentioned by the Times has been the steady rise in charter schools, many of which provide the order and discipline desired by parents sending their children to Catholic schools yet do so for free.

Especially hard hit have been the archdioceses of Boston and New York. “In Boston, the archdiocese has had to close nine schools so far,” reported the Times, “and about two dozen others are on a ‘watch list,’ said Thomas Carroll, superintendent of schools for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. In early July, the Archdiocese of New York announced that it would be closing 20 schools.”