Last month, the National Catholic Educational Association broke the news that, in 2020, Catholic schools experienced their largest enrollment decline in 50 years: a 6.4 percent drop between 2019 and 2020.
Ultimately, the pandemic may help Catholic schools position themselves as valuable alternatives to public schools.
Some sectors have seen increases, including homeschooling; charter schools in some jurisdictions, including Ohio and New York City; and Catholic schools in areas where families have broad access to school choice.
Fully 92 percent of Catholic schools were open for full-time in-person instruction or "Hybrid" learning at the start of 2021, and most have remained open with only minimal interruption throughout the 2020-2021 school year.
Demand for Catholic schools is rising across the country, but translated into enrollment gains only in states where families can access public funding to send their children to private schools.
In Cleveland, where every family can take advantage of the Cleveland Scholarship Program, enrollment in Catholic schools that run from kindergarten through eighth grade increased by 2.1 percent overall-and by 13.9 percent in the five Catholic elementary campuses serving the city's lowest-income northeast neighborhoods-while public school enrollment fell by 5.2 percent.
In too many communities, Catholic schools operate at an enormous disadvantage compared with charter and district schools because competing with a "Free" price tag is hard.
https://www.city-journal.org/catholic-schools-after-covid-19
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