A broad-based funding plan that looks beyond tuition and typical fundraisers is the best way to achieve long-term financial stability and sustainability. Developing this kind of long-range financial strategy is a part of our planning process when we engage with schools.
Schools
A Delicate Balance
"About 150 Catholic schools have closed, said Kathy Mears, the director of the National Catholic Educational Association, equal to about 2 percent of the 6,183 schools that were up and running last year. The number of closures is at least 50 percent higher this year than in previous years, Ms. Mears said.”
(New York Times, 9/5/2020)
This school year 2020-21, like years past and even more so now, Catholic schools have been experiencing an enrollment decline, particularly at the elementary school level. In a number of dioceses and schools, there has been the “COVID-bump” increase in the number of students. There is hope of retaining these new students and their families for the long term. However, the overall reality is that we continue to lose students and lose schools, too often in geographic areas where they may be needed most.
In our work at Meitler, we are seeing the impact the elementary school enrollment trend is having on Catholic high schools as this traditional feeder system shrinks in size. High schools have begun to reach out and recruit from a broader market area and, in many cases, are now enrolling more students from public and other private elementary schools rather than from Catholic elementary schools. Despite these efforts, it is still a significant challenge to remain viable.
Throughout the country, some high schools have considered expanding their reach to include middle/junior high school grades to not only sustain their enrollment but to also provide another Catholic educational opportunity for those critical years when many elementary schools have fewer students, programs, and resources. And thus begins the delicate balance of changing the grade structure of a Catholic high school at the potential expense of Catholic elementary schools.
A key concern when a high school is considering expanding grades into middle school is the impact on those grades in local Catholic elementary schools. Such a move not only has a potential impact on the elementary school but the parish community as well. It often puts the parish, its elementary school, and the high school in a tense situation and often at odds with one another. This creates what we often refer to as “ecclesial Darwinism” where the one with the most students wins, a situation everyone wants to avoid!
However, some Catholic high schools that have added a middle school present a positive perspective to this situation. What if integrating a middle school program with the high school were to attract more students who are Catholic and were not attending a parish elementary school? What if the impact on the Catholic elementary schools were minimized? What if the impact was actually beneficial, allowing the elementary school with low enrollments in seventh and eighth grades to focus on the higher enrolled primary grades? Could an opportunity to sustain Catholic school education at both the elementary and secondary levels be achieved in a different fashion?
Recently, Meitler conducted an expansion study with Pope John Paul II High School in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Diocese of Nashville. A comprehensive data study and broad-reaching market research survey was conducted to assess the possible enrollment and its potential impact on Catholic elementary middle school programs. Listening sessions were conducted with pastors, principals and parents of the parish schools to provide them with the opportunity to share their insights and concerns as a key element of the study. Needless to say, some pastors and school administrators were highly skeptical of what the results could be.
Interestingly, the feasibility of adding the middle school grades at Pope John Paul II High School found that a majority (62%) of survey respondents’ students would come from area public schools and other private schools. The potential impact of the Catholic schools would be minimal in most cases as many families expressed their loyalty to their parish program. “A good number of families with children in public schools and other private schools in this area … would prefer a Catholic (middle) school option,” said Rebecca Hammel, superintendent of schools for the diocese. “We hope to offer those families this option.”
An essential component in this process is transparency, sharing a rationale, and including key stakeholders such as pastors, elementary school principals, school leaders, diocesan leaders, and parents throughout the study and planning. Building an understanding among the parish, elementary school and high school communities backed up by the data can show a different perspective and provide an opportunity to reach out to more families, Catholics in particular, who are not enrolling in the parish elementary school, but would consider a Catholic education at an integrated middle/high school.
The Important Role of Catholic Schools for Parishes
Catholic Schools Week is an opportunity to renew our understanding and appreciation for the importance of Catholic Schools. Catholic Schools are important not only to the individuals and families they serve but to the parishes which support and promote them. Some of their impact is not immediately seen.
According to the 1964 Blog of June 13, 2014, on the CARA (Center for Applied Research) website, at Georgetown University, there are national studies of Catholic practices and behaviors which illustrate how important Catholic Schools are to parish life in three significant areas.
- Mass Attendance – Catholic School graduates are more likely to attend Mass regularly. In fact, those students who attend Catholic high school, college, university, or graduate school have the highest rates of Mass attendance.
- Sacrament of Confirmation – Catholic School graduates receive this Sacrament at a higher level than other groupings of Catholics.
- Vocations – the highest percentages of vocations to the priesthood, sisterhood and lay ecclesial ministry come from Catholic School graduates.
For these reasons alone, every parish should support and promote a Catholic School. This is even more possible today than in the so-called “golden age” when every parish was to have its own school, even though at its peak only 52% of all Catholic parishes had a school. Parishes can now support and promote regional, area, and deanery systems of Catholic Schools.
Data alone does not tell the whole story about the importance of Catholic Schools. Over the years as a diocesan planner and parish consultant, I have heard from many pastors of parishes with a Catholic elementary school who witnessed to the importance of these schools. Their experiences and observations about schools fall into three primary areas:
- Wholistic Faith Formation – Children and parents in a Catholic School are much more likely to learn and recognize that faith is part of everyday living not just a Sunday affair. That is because Catholic Schools integrate the spiritual, academic and communal aspects of life.
- Relationships – Not only do children develop friendships with fellow students but relationship is fostered between parents and families. Over time, a special bond can also develop for former students with the parish itself.
- Volunteerism and Service – Students in Catholic Schools are taught to give of themselves to others and often experience opportunities to do so as part of their faith formation. Pastors know that they can turn to and count on Catholic School parents and students to help with various ministries in the parish or to participate in them.
Catholic Schools play a vital and important role in the Church on a parish as well as a national level. Every Catholic should, at minimum, have the opportunity to attend a Catholic school at some level of education. The future of our parishes depends on Catholic education.
Meitler Minute
Happy Catholic Schools Week! Catholic Schools Week is an important time to reflect on marketing, recruitment, admissions, and especially retention strategies! Call us today to let us help you determine how to best support your school’s plan for the future.
Meitler Minute
The Meitler team has been actively helping schools, dioceses, and parishes think differently during the pandemic. Dr. Jackie Lichter offers ten action steps for your organization to adapt and survive.
