A lot of chatter about this WaPo story on D.C.’s Catholic schools. Though it flirts at it, not sure the story really does justice to the voucher angle. Clearly the schools have done some good stuff, but how much of the renaissance is due to the availability of publicly and privately funded vouchers in the city? One can argue the public benefit there either way, but it’s worth discussing…
In term of the bigger picture, the quiet tension here, incidentally, is not public – private though so much as public charter – private. Meaning that parents want alternatives to traditional urban public schools and public charter schools give them tuition-free alternatives. Privately a lot of Catholic officials express real concern about this and the demographics of Catholic schools illustrate that plenty of non-Catholics avail themselves of the schools now…
Conversely though, could Catholic schools deliver a secular education program and qualify for charter status? That’s an interesting question that could get really tested at some point…