Chicago Catholic schools see declining enrollment

Story by Brian Matos

Faced with a declining student enrollment in the city’s Catholic schools, Cardinal Francis George is proposing that all Archdiocesan parishes be required to fund a Catholic school even if they don’t have one.

This proposal is one of the more dramatic ideas being considered to address the current funding problem. The number of students enrolled in the Archdiocese system has declined almost 50% since 1981.

Almost 100,000 children now go to Archdiocesan schools, according to the 2007 Archdiocese of Chicago Data Composite. About 70,000 are enrolled in 217 elementary schools, and more than 28,000 in 40 high schools.

The parochial school system was once a popular alternative to public schools for parents who wanted their children to have a religious- based education that was academically challenging. The decline in the number of Catholic schools is limiting choices in education for area parents.

As a result of an enrollment decline that averages about 4 percent per year, 50 elementary schools have closed since 2000, according to Colleen Doran, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Chicago schools.

“When a large system experiences steady decline in enrollment over a long period of time, there are a number of reasons for it,” said Doran. She cites rising teacher salaries and benefits as the two main factors forcing tuition to increase and enrollment to decrease.

In Chicago Catholic schools, 73 percent of all income comes from tuition and fees. When enrollment drops and the cost of living for teachers increases, tuition must also increase. Fewer working class families can afford to pay higher tuition rates.

Ryan Blackburn, director of marketing and communications for the Archdiocese of Chicago, says the changing work force is a key factor.

“In the past, priests, nuns and other religious orders made up most of the teaching force,” said Blackburn. “Now the laity, those who are not in a religious order, are the predominant teachers and their salaries are not subsidized by any religious order.”

from 1986 to 2006, the number of full time religious teachers in Chicago Catholic schools fell from 1,083 to just 206, according to the Archdiocese Data Composite of 2006. Today, religious teachers make up about 4 percent of all full-time teachers compared to 13 percent two decades ago.

St. Andrew’s is bucking the trend of declining enrollment. The student population has risen for the last four years and led to a 10 percent increase in parish income, according to the 2006 St. Andrew’s Parish Report. The parish ended the year with a surplus of over $44,000.

There are a number of factors playing into the enrollment increase at St. Andrew’s. Its location in Lakeview, where a lot of young families are moving, is one big factor, according to Jack Percival, principal of St. Andrew’s school.

“Our decision to have smaller class sizes also made us stronger and we hired more teachers and introduced more afterschool programs,” said Percival.

He agrees with Cardinal George’s new funding idea as well as his old proposals to include government money.

“Our schools have saved the state of Illinois literally billions of dollars if our students would have attended public schools,” said Percival.

Tuition rates at St. Andrew’s have not bucked any trends. They have increased more than $3,000 in the past 10 years. That is largely due to the decisions to hire more teachers, according to Percival. Most Catholic schools have experienced smaller increases over the same period.

If the Cardinal mandates parishes to financially support schools that their parishioners attend, St. James on Wabash Avenue will be affected. According to financial reports released on the parish’s website, St. James already runs a $39,000 deficit without operating a school.

“We do fund educational activity and that might meet the Cardinal’s expectations,” said Rev. Edward Linton. “Spending more on a school will be a challenge for some small parishes though.”

Old St. Mary’s, in South Loop, dared to start a school of its own in 2004 despite declining enrollment at other Chicago area parishes.

“There is a lot of new development in the area and we think if families move in, they will choose this school,” said Rev. Mike Kallok, pastor of Old St. Mary’s. “People will come a long way for a good education.”

Sue Smiley, a mother of two, says she moved to Naperville to take advantage of the good public school system rather than send her kids to private school in Chicago.

“I am not Catholic and the public schools are terrible,” said Smiley. “The suburban schools are the best.”

There are positive signs, though. In 2006, for the first time in 45 years, no elementary schools were closed in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Many credit the strategic plan, dubbed Genesis.

“We are still in the beginning of Genesis but the marketing campaign and increased educational standards are paying off,” said Blackburn. “The Cardinal’s initiative would address the financial aspects of Genesis.”

The Archdiocese will review the impact of the Cardinal’s proposal and is expected to make a formal announcement by the end of the year.