THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL CLOSURE CRISIS
AND DECLINING EDUCATIONAL
OPPORTUNITY IN NEW YORK
TO THE POINT
O C TO B E R 2 0 1 6
► New York has experienced a dramatic 75 percent decline in
Catholic school enrollment since 1970, creating a Catholic school
closure crisis that continues today.
►W
hile there are multiple causes for the decline in Catholic school
enrollment, a major factor has been families increasingly unable to
afford tuition.
►N
ew York’s Catholic schools have a long history of providing
quality educational opportunities to students from immigrant, lowincome and minority families. The Catholic school closure crisis
threatens the future of this tradition.
► T he purpose of this report is to familiarize the reader with the
long history of Catholic schools in New York, the ongoing Catholic
school closure crisis, and the resulting decline of educational
opportunities they provide for students.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
IIntroduction......................................................................................................................................................................................................3
The History of Catholic Education in New York.......................................................................................................................... 3
Enrollment Decline and School Closures......................................................................................................................................... 4
Causes of Decline..........................................................................................................................................................................................5
The Disappearing “Springboard” of Opportunity........................................................................................................................ 5
Catholic School Success.............................................................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................................................................................6
Notes and Sources........................................................................................................................................................................................7
© 2012-2016, Invest In Education Foundation
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The Catholic School Closure Crisis
and Declining Educational Opportunity
in New York
INTRODUCTION
TNew York’s long history of Catholic schools
providing quality educational opportunity to
diverse student populations, including lowincome, immigrant, and minority students, faces
an uncertain future. Due in part to families
increasingly unable to afford tuition, New York
has experienced a dramatic decline in Catholic
school enrollment since the 1970s, creating a
Catholic school closure crisis that continues
today.1
The Catholic school closure crisis is even more
devastating due to the fact that these educational
opportunities are have a long history of success
in preparing New York’s low-income, immigrant,
and minority student populations for college and
careers. Students in New York’s Catholic schools
today are benefitting from quality elementary
and secondary education coupled with strong
character development programs unavailable
in many public schools. These educational
opportunities provide the hope of a brighter
future and should be saved.
THE HISTORY OF CATHOLIC
EDUCATION IN NEW YORK
Catholic education has a long history of serving
the needs of low-income, immigrant, and minority
students that that dates back to 1800 in New York
City with St. Peter’s Parish founding a Catholic
school on Barclay Street in lower Manhattan to
serve 100 Irish and German immigrants students.2
Because New York City was home to so many
new immigrants, the demand for and growth of
Catholic schools in New York was centered there.
During the early 19th century, the New York City
public school system failed to meet the needs of
the poor and immigrant Catholic populations
(mostly from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland),
instead offering the Protestant establishment
“a model of order and efficiency, embodying
the virtues of good habits, cleanliness, thrift,
and industry.”3 As education historian Diane
Ravitch detailed in The Great School Wars, New
York City, 1805-1973: A History of the Public Schools
as Battlefields of Social Change, the failure of the
public school system to accommodate the needs of
the poor immigrant populations led the Catholic
Church to establish its own system of schools:
The clergy [were] champions of the most depressed class in
the city…The clergy comprehended the trials of the poor
and believed that what they most needed was the succor of
faith…To the Catholic poor, the Church was accepting. But
their public schools were reproachful, disapproving of their
habits and their morality, disparaging their family, their religion,
and their culture...The Public School Society [or public school
system] failed to recognize that its version of nonsectarianism
was sectless Protestantism.4
From 1800 to the 1960s, Catholic schools
flourished. More than two dozen Catholic schools
were operating in New York City by the mid1800s, growing to 22,000 students or nearly a fifth
(19 percent) of all New York City students by
1870.5 Growth continued as each parish sought
to open its own school, making education what
the American bishops considered “an empire of
charity” that grew to more than 55,000 New York
City students by 1900.6 New York City Catholic
school enrollment grew even more dramatically
from 1930 to 1960, increasing by an additional
300,000 students, with Catholic schools serving
a quarter (25 percent) of all city students.7
Enrollment reached a pinnacle in 1967 with
360,200 students enrolled in 488 schools.8
3 • OCTOBER 2016 • THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL CLOSURE CRISIS AND DECLINING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN NEW YORK
Nearly 80 percent of the New York City Catholic
parishes were operating a school at that time.9
While Catholic school enrollment was reaching
an all time high in the 1960s, the schools also
went through a significant transition. Following
the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the
mission of Catholic education changed from
primarily educating Catholic children of local
parish families to one more ecumenical focusing
on “mainstream education, and equipping
disadvantaged children to participate fully in
American economic and political life.”10 The
increasing influence of liberation theology in the
Catholic Church since Vatican II has encouraged
schools to be more concerned with social
justice and working to help create a humane
and compassionate society.11 Highlighting the
significant shift that started in the 1960s, a 2014
report by Niagara University’s Stephen J. Denig
noted the following:
The mission of Catholic schools has changed as the
population it serves has changed. Especially in the cities, and
New York City in particular…Today, many of the students in
the Catholic schools of New York are from Central America,
Africa, the American South, Asia, the Caribbean, and the
former republics of the Soviet Union. 12
While the 1960s saw a significant shift in the
mission of Catholic schools and a change in
some of the student populations they serve,
these schools have retained their mission of
providing educational opportunity to students
from disadvantaged backgrounds. In the 201314 school year, black, Hispanic and multi-racial
students made up a majority (56 percent) of
students enrolled in New York City Catholic
schools and more than a third (38 percent) of
Catholic schools statewide. 13
ENROLLMENT DECLINE AND
SCHOOL CLOSURES
As the data below demonstrate, Catholic schools
in New York City and statewide have experienced
a significant decline in enrollment since 1970.14
NYC CATHOLIC SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
(1970-2014) 15
Catholic school enrollment in New York City has
fallen from 325,620 students in 1970 to just 83,075
in 2014, a reduction of 242,545 students or 75
percent. Since 2011, more than 30 Catholic schools
in the five boroughs have been shuttered.16
NON-NYC CATHOLIC SCHOOL
ENROLLMENT IN NYS (1970-2014)17
Non-New York City Catholic school enrollment
in New York State has seen a similar dramatic
decline, falling from 338,397 students in 1970 to
just 80,124 in 2014, a reduction of 258,273 students
or 76 percent. Like New York City, Catholic
school closures in other areas of the state continue.
For example, the Diocese of Buffalo closed more
than half (45 of 81 schools) of its schools in the
ten-year period ending in 2014.18
THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL CLOSURE CRISIS AND DECLINING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN NEW YORK • OCTOBER 2016 • 4
The dramatic decline in Catholic school
enrollment and widespread closure of hundreds
of Catholic schools in New York since the 1970s
has brought about a Catholic school closure crisis
that continues today.
CAUSES OF DECLINE
While there are multiple causes for the decline in
Catholic school enrollment – including upwardly
mobile immigrant populations moving to
suburban communities, changing attitudes among
Catholics regarding public schooling, fewer clergy
and members of religious communities to staff
schools, increased Catholic school operation costs,
and an increase in tuition-free alternatives such as
the growth of tuition-free public charter schools –
a major factor in the decline has been lower- and
middle-income households increasingly unable to
afford tuition.19
The 1993 New York State Education Department
report Catholic Schools in New York State: A
Comprehensive Report examined the first two
decades (1970-1990) of declining enrollment in
New York’s Catholic schools and found that
tuition and fees were “major factors” in the
enrollment decline, noting that “[m]any poor and
low income parents cannot afford to send their
children to Catholic schools.”20
In recent years, many New York families have
faced great financial woes caused by the financial
crisis and “Great Recession” that began in 2007,
damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012,
and stagnant incomes coupled with rising living
costs. For too many families, these challenges
have made even New York City’s modest Catholic
school tuition rates – approximately $3,500 for
kindergarten through eighth grade and $6,000 to
$8,000 for high school – unaffordable.21
THE DISAPPEARING
“SPRINGBOARD” OF
OPPORTUNITY
The Catholic school closure crisis is even more
concerning given the populations of students for
whom these schools have successfully provided
long-term life-changing educational opportunities.
While Catholic schools have a long history of
providing quality educational opportunities
to students from immigrant, low-income, and
minority families, the shrinking number of
Catholic schools and challenges with affording
tuition threatens the future of this tradition.
During a round of Catholic school closures in
2013, a feature New York Times story by David
Gonzalez drew attention to how prominent
minority officials and parents were increasingly
concerned over the disappearing “springboard”
of opportunity that they fear won’t be available to
future generations due to the dwindling number
of Catholic schools.22
Gonzalez wrote that a “generation of
accomplished Latino and black professionals and
public servants” from poverty have attended
New York Catholic schools and went on to have
successful, influential careers.23 Those he cited
include: Cesar A. Perales (New York secretary of
state); Fernando Ferrer (former Bronx borough
president); Bobby Sanabria (Grammy-nominated
musician and educator); Theodore M. Shaw
(former head of the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund); and, Julissa Reynoso (United
States ambassador to Uruguay). Additional
examples include Jennifer Lopez (performer)
and Carmen Fariña (New York City schools
chancellor).
One of the most notable New York City Catholic
school alumnae, Supreme Court Justice Sonia
Sotomayor, noted that the “Catholic schools have
been a pipeline to opportunity for generations…It
gave people like me the chance to be successful.”24
Justice Sotomayor’s Catholic elementary school in
the Bronx was closed in 2013.
5 • OCTOBER 2016 • THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL CLOSURE CRISIS AND DECLINING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN NEW YORK
Gonzalez highlighted the fact that “minority
alumni are increasingly alarmed that New
York will be deprived of a future generation
of professionals – like lawyers, doctors and
executives – to contribute economic and cultural
vitality.”25 Going a step further, the future of
Catholic schools in impoverished neighborhoods
will play a major factor in how the communities
function decades from now because public schools
“do not have the same values and culture,”
according to New York University education
professor Pedro Noguera.26
CATHOLIC SCHOOL SUCCESS
CONCLUSION
Catholics schools are becoming an increasingly
endangered species in the education landscape.
Although the rich tradition of New York’s Catholic
schools serving a significant share of students
from disadvantaged backgrounds continues,
fewer Catholic schools are available and fewer
families are able to afford tuition, resulting in a
Catholic school closure crisis that continues today.
These all-too-rare educational opportunities need
to be saved and expanded in order to benefit more
students for future generations.
Despite a significant share of students enrolled
in Catholic school in New York coming from
disadvantaged backgrounds, they have a long
track record of achieving strong academic results.
New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin
rightly claimed in 2012 that “New York’s Catholic
schools are the little engine that could. Their
success doesn’t make news because there’s
nothing shocking about it. It happens routinely,
year after year, student after student.”27
While remaining true to their mission to serve
diverse student populations, Catholic schools
achieve remarkable academic results. A strong
80 percent of students graduate on time, Catholic
school SAT scores are higher than their public
school peers, and 96 percent go to college.28 Black
and Hispanic students who attended a Catholic
high school are two and a half times more likely to
graduate from college.29
Given these results, it’s no surprise that New York
families are concerned about the Catholic school
closure crisis.
THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL CLOSURE CRISIS AND DECLINING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN NEW YORK • OCTOBER 2016 • 6
NOTES AND SOURCES
For a list of approximately 1,200 private schools that have closed
in New York State since 1970, see: “Elementary and Secondary
Public and Nonpublic School Enrollment, New York State, 1970-71
Through 2012-13,” New York State Education Department, June 22,
2015, www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/statistics/public/2012/TABLE1.pdf.
1. “History of Schools: Two Centuries of Transforming Lives”
(webpage), Office of the Superintendent of Schools, Archdiocese of
New York, http://buildboldfutures.org/about-us/history-of-schools.
14.
Catholic schools in the five boroughs of New York City are
operated by the Archdiocese of New York (the Bronx, Manhattan,
Staten Island boroughs) and the Brooklyn Diocese (Brooklyn and
Queens boroughs). The two diocese are run separately, but the
data concerning New York City Catholic schools includes all of the
Catholic schools operated by both within the five boroughs.
15.
Roman Catholic Schools in New York State: A Comprehensive
Report, University of the State of New York, State Education
Department, Office for Planning, Research and Support Services,
1993, p. 32; “Nonpublic School Enrollment and Staff ” (webpage),
New York State Education Department, May 19, 2014, www.p12.
nysed.gov/irs/statistics/nonpublic.
16.
“Reconfiguration Committee Recommendations Regarding ‘At-Risk’
Schools Accepted by Archdiocese of New York,” (press release)
Archdiocese of New York, January 11, 2014, http://www.archny.org/
news-events/news-press-releases/index.cfm?i=18750; “Local Boards
And Reconfiguration Committees Issue Final Decisions,” (press
release), Archdiocese of New York, January 22, 2013, http://archny.
org/news/local-boards-and-reconfiguration-committees-issuefinal-decisions; Simone Weichselbaum, “Century-Old Washington
Heights Catholic School Says Its Broke and Will Soon Close,”
New York Daily News, January 15, 2014, www.nydailynews.com/
new-york/uptown/broke-washington-heights-catholic-school-closearticle-1.1581167; Kyle Spencer, “A Catholic High School Abruptly
Loses Its Fight to Stay Open,” New York Times, April 20, 2014,
www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/nyregion/a-catholic-high-schoolabruptly-loses-its-fight-to-stay-open.html; Phil Corso, “Cluster of
Catholic Schools Close Across Queens,” Queens Time Ledger,
September 13, 2013, www.timesledger.com/stories/2013/37/
catholicschools_bt_2013_09_13_q.html.
17.
oman Catholic Schools in New York State: A Comprehensive
R
Report, University of the State of New York, State Education
Department, Office for Planning, Research and Support Services,
1993, p. 32; “Nonpublic School Enrollment and Staff ” (webpage),
New York State Education Department, May 19, 2014, www.p12.
nysed.gov/irs/statistics/nonpublic.
18.
Denise Jewell Gee, “Buffalo Diocese to Close 10 of its Erie County
Schools,” Buffalo News, January 15, 2014, www.buffalonews.com/
city-region/schools/buffalo-diocese-to-close-10-of-its-erie-countyschools-20140115.
2. Diane Ravitch, The Great School Wars, New York City, 1805-1973: A
History of the Public Schools as Battlefields of Social Change (New
York, New York: Basic Books, 1974), p. 32.
3. Diane Ravitch, The Great School Wars, New York City, 1805-1973: A
History of the Public Schools as Battlefields of Social Change (New
York, New York: Basic Books, 1974), pp. 33, 35.
4. “History of Schools: Two Centuries of Transforming Lives”
(webpage), Office of the Superintendent of Schools, Archdiocese of
New York, http://buildboldfutures.org/about-us/history-of-schools.
5. “History of Schools: Two Centuries of Transforming Lives”
(webpage), Office of the Superintendent of Schools, Archdiocese of
New York, http://buildboldfutures.org/about-us/history-of-schools.
6. Emanuel Tobier, “Schooling in New York City: The Socioeconomic
Context,” in Diane Ravitch and Joe Viteritti (Eds.), City Schools:
Lessons From New York, (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2000), p. 24.
7. Paul T. Hill and Mary Beth Celio, “Catholic Schools” in Diane Ravitch
and Joe Viteritti (Eds.), City Schools: Lessons From New York,
(Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), p. 240.
8. 9.
Paul T. Hill and Mary Beth Celio, “Catholic Schools” in Diane Ravitch
and Joe Viteritti (Eds.), City Schools: Lessons From New York,
(Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), p. 240.
10.
Paul T. Hill and Mary Beth Celio, “Catholic Schools” in Diane Ravitch
and Joe Viteritti (Eds.), City Schools: Lessons From New York,
(Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), p. 239.
11.
homas Oldenski, Liberation Theology and Critical Pedagogy in
T
Today’s Catholic Schools: Social Justice In Action, (New York, New
York: Garland Publishing, 1997) p. 32.
12.
Stephen J. Denig, “Academic Achievement in Catholic Schools:
That’s Not the Issue,” in Patricia A. Bauch (Ed.), Catholic Schools in
the Public Interest: Past Present, and Future Directions, (Charlotte,
North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, 2014), p. 118.
13.
“2013-14 Nonpublic School Enrollment and Staff,” (webpage), New
York State Education Department, May 19, 2014, www.p12.nysed.
gov/irs/statistics/nonpublic.
7 • OCTOBER 2016 • THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL CLOSURE CRISIS AND DECLINING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN NEW YORK
NOTES AND SOURCES
19.
20.
aul T. Hill and Mary Beth Celio, “Catholic Schools” in Diane Ravitch
P
and Joe Viteritti (Eds.), City Schools: Lessons From New York,
(Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), p. 242;
Roman Catholic Schools in New York State: A Comprehensive
Report, University of the State of New York, State Education
Department, Office for Planning, Research and Support Services,
1993, p. 8; Abraham M. Lachman, “The Collapse of Catholic School
Enrollment: The Unintended Consequence of the Charter School
Movement,” Albany Government Law Review, February 2013,
Vol. 6, No. 1, p. 12, www.albanygovernmentlawreview.org/Articles/
Vol06_1/6.1.001-Lackman.pdf.
Roman Catholic Schools in New York State: A Comprehensive
Report, University of the State of New York, State Education
Department, Office for Planning, Research and Support Services,
1993, p. 8.
. Greg Toppo, “Recession Fuels Shift From Private to Public Schools,”
USA Today, January 6, 2010, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/
education/2010-01-06-1Apublicprivate06_CV_N.htm; Diance C.
Lore, “Staten Island Catholic Schools Create Fund to Help Their
Students, Families, Torn by Hurricane Sandy,” Staten Island Advance,
November 9, 2012, www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/staten_
island_catholic_schools_6.html; “Frequently Asked Questions,”
(webpage) Office of the Superintendent of Schools, Archdiocese
of New York, http://buildboldfutures.org/about-us/faq/.
21
22.
avid Gonzalez, “A Lifeline for Minorities, Catholic Schools
D
Retrench,” New York Times, June 20, 2013, www.nytimes.
com/2013/06/21/nyregion/as-archdioceses-schools-retrenchworries-grow-for-a-building-block-for-minority-students.html
23.
David Gonzalez, “A Lifeline for Minorities, Catholic Schools
Retrench,” New York Times, June 20, 2013, www.nytimes.
com/2013/06/21/nyregion/as-archdioceses-schools-retrenchworries-grow-for-a-building-block-for-minority-students.html
24.
David Gonzalez, “A Lifeline for Minorities, Catholic Schools
Retrench,” New York Times, June 20, 2013, www.nytimes.
com/2013/06/21/nyregion/as-archdioceses-schools-retrenchworries-grow-for-a-building-block-for-minority-students.html
25.
David Gonzalez, “A Lifeline for Minorities, Catholic Schools
Retrench,” New York Times, June 20, 2013, www.nytimes.
com/2013/06/21/nyregion/as-archdioceses-schools-retrenchworries-grow-for-a-building-block-for-minority-students.html
26.
David Gonzalez, “A Lifeline for Minorities, Catholic Schools
Retrench,” New York Times, June 20, 2013, www.nytimes.
com/2013/06/21/nyregion/as-archdioceses-schools-retrenchworries-grow-for-a-building-block-for-minority-students.html
27.
Michael Goodwin, “Schools Done Right, New York Post, June 20,
2012, http://nypost.com/2012/06/20/schools-done-right.
28.
Michael Goodwin, “Schools Done Right, New York Post, June 20,
2012, http://nypost.com/2012/06/20/schools-done-right.
29.
William McGurn, “Catholic Schools’ Secret: Love,” New York Post,
January 31, 2014, http://nypost.com/2014/01/31/catholic-schoolssecret-love.
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