Forbes | July 31, 2020
By Jeanne Allen, Founder and CEO of CER

“Go and set the world on fire.” Those simple words from St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose feast day is today, colored all of his works, most notably the establishment of the Jesuits, among whose leading contributions is Catholic education.

Boy holds his hands together and prays. GETTY

“Education in the Jesuit tradition is a call to human excellence,” according to Fordham University, considered a premiere institution of higher education. “It develops the whole person, from intellect and imagination to emotions and conscience, and approaches academic subjects holistically, exploring the connections among facts, questions, insights, conclusions, problems, and solutions.”

Their focus, as is the focus of most Catholic-inspired schools, is the whole person, no matter whether the person is Catholic. Catholic educators are ‘catholic’ with a small C, meaning “according to the whole,” or, of all things. That’s why Catholic schools are recognized as being the best educators of students with lesser means, dating back to their full embrace of poor, unwanted immigrants who came with a Catholic faith that was then eschewed by white protestant society, to today’s focus on students most in need, 19 percent of whom are not Catholic.

Among the many tenets of teaching advocated by Saint Frances “Mother” Cabrini in founding the first schools for the poor in New York City, she counseled the teachers to:

Safeguard the children confided to you as on precious loan.

Study well the personalities, the strengths of the students, because one cannot presume they are all the same. Treat each one according to their capacity and the gifts they have received from God.

Seek to form character.

Do not embarrass, correct patiently.

Do not show dislike either in words or actions.

Do not speak of the students’ defects to others.

Use all possible diligence to plan your schoolwork at the beginning of the year. Always be ready to answer to educational authorities and satisfy the families of the students.

And indeed, the contributions of these revered Catholic institutions are well known through the product of their teachings, respected entertainers, business and political leaders alike:

Will Smith, Lady Gaga, Susan Sarandon.

Barack Obama, Caroline Kennedy.

The late Cokie Roberts, media star, and Jim Kimsey, founder of AOL.

Jennifer Lopez, Sly Stalone, Sophia Vergara, Martin Scorcese, Mandy Moore.

The late justice Antonin Scalia, and Mario Cuomo.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, William Conway.

And of course, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Each of these graduates – most of them from modest, if not downright poor backgrounds, regardless of their level of devotion or acceptance of their faith, have acknowledged the powerful impact of their Catholic schooling.

It’s often called “The Catholic School Advantage,” and the results of students attending them is well documented. A 2018 study found that  “…students who attended Catholic high schools had higher college grade-point averages (GPAs), were more likely to graduate, and were more likely to graduate with a STEM degree. This Catholic school advantage was wideranging, benefiting many subgroups of students, including non-white, low income, urban, and low-achieving students.” Catholic high school graduates are also more than twice as likely to attend college.

Catholic schools have lower administrator-student ratios, lower costs (often too low to sustain them), a smaller achievement gap,and are more diverse socioeconomically.

On the National 2018 Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) assessment, focused on critical STEM skills, students in Catholic schools performed better than those in public school.

Catholic schools enroll 10 percent of all students in the country. Fully 40 percent of them serve either urban or inner-city areas, while another 22 percent serve rural populations. These schools, and  some in suburban settings, have student bodies that often skew toward the lower end of the economic scale.

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES – 2020/07/10: View of Nativity of Our Blessed Lady in the Bronx slated to close as Archdiocese of New York and Brooklyn Diocese to shutter Catholic schools. Schools will not reopen due to the pandemic. The Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdiocese of New York blame low enrollment and financial issues caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Majority schools slated to be closed located in areas most hit by virus.  PACIFIC PRESS/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES

The parents, grandparents and guardians of these students were among the first to be hit by mandated business shutdowns because of COVID, and they remain the most seriously impacted by the economic destruction the shutdowns brought on. If they are ever able to return to their jobs, there is a decent chance that at least for some time, wages will be below the level of when the shutdown occurred.

And yet, not one of the rich and famous who could do so, has stood up to advocate that we plug the dam on the disaster we now face, the closing of Catholic schools, which just this year reached 140, mainly because of Covid’s impact. No longer open, no longer able to expect monthly tuition checks, monthly church contributions or donations, and no longer able to pay their staffs, Catholic schools are perhaps the second most tragic institutional victim of Covid, next to employment.

The shutdowns have wreaked havoc on the ability of lower and middle class working folks to afford continuing their kids’ Catholic education. Thomas Carroll, Superintendent of the Archdiocese of Boston, put it succinctly in a recent conversation, “We didn’t cause this problem – the government did. There is a direct cause and effect between the shutdown and the looming collapse of some Catholic schools serving those most in need.”

His message to government is clear, unambiguous and unarguable – “you broke it, you fix it.”

Boston’s Catholic schools under Carroll’s leadership are opening physically and on time, offering that option to parents who want to send their children back to school.  But Boston public schools are not opening on time, and when they do, there will be no in-person option. Why are we paying schools that are not open and teachers who are not teaching, but not schools and teachers which have continued to serve kids? If we measured our delivery of federal funding on results only, the balance sheet would favor Catholic schools. And it wouldn’t be close.

Paul Escala, Superintendent of Schools for the Los Angeles Archdiocese has noted that the average cost of attendance in his Catholic schools is just $6,100 per student, versus more than $13,000 in the neighboring public schools. Their student bodies are 78 percent minority and 20 percent non-Catholic, yet when federal CARES Act funds were allocated to states this spring and Catholic schools sought a proportionate share, state leaders ignored them. Interest groups called such a request a “back door” attempt to injure the public schools.

In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 ruled that Blaine Amendments, created to discriminate against Catholics, when used to prohibit parents from making choices of religious schools are unconstitutional.  That 37 states have such amendments should be concern enough for advocates of equal access. These amendments will soon see their demise state by state, opening up the path for more opportunities for expansive options, including Catholic schools.

Until then, however, we must recognize that Covid is not a schools issue, but an economic issue. Any institution that is failing as a result of Covid-impact should qualify for funds.  The CARES Act funds, intended to rescue or at least plug an ailing economy, were intended for all organizations that impact the nation’s economic and social fabric.  But attempts to access the $13 billion reserved for K-12 education for Catholic schools were met by hostility.

And what a pity! It turns out just two percent of those funds have even been drawn down by the public school monopoly that sought to protect those funds, because, according to theAmerican Association of School Administrators, they were waiting for more money. Such irresponsible behavior during that time has contributed to the closure of more than 100 Catholic schools which could have been saved if just ten percent of those funds had been distributed to them.

Today there’s a huge debate raging in Congress about the next stimulus package. According to FutureEd, “the Senate is now considering a new round of funding that could bring as much as $70 billion to states for stabilizing elementary and secondary school budgets. But provisions for private school funding and money tied to reopening schools could complicate its passage.” While requiring schools to reopen as a condition for receiving funds, private schools could count on up to ten percent, which is the proportionate share of students they serve.  But why are there complications to include private schools? Because, the opponents argue, they don’t serve everyone.

We don’t ban a bar from getting funds because we may not drink, or a hospital because we may not be sick, or any number of the millions of businesses and people that qualified for federal stimulus funds. Banning Catholic schools from similarly receiving support, considering their public good and their record, is neither logical nor moral. Existing opposition to funding for Catholic schools is rooted in discrimination.  These schools save American taxpayers $21 billion per year with achievement rates often twice as high for students who would otherwise be attending inner city public schools.

It’s time to get off the couch –put on your mask– and lend your voice and support to the 1.7 million deserving school kids across America whose choices put them in Catholic schools. In the words of St. Ignatius, it’s time to “set the world on fire.”

Follow Jeanne on Twitter or LinkedIn or some of her other work here. 

Forbes | July 30, 2020
By Jeanne Allen, Founder and CEO of CER

The reactions to a recent article about reopening school and the pernicious effects of delaying school, in any form, any longer, have reminded me of a fundamental tenet of good communication: Never assume your reader knows anything about your subject.

Often the complexities of educational processes and policies get lost in the best of pieces. The endless barrage of articles and commentaries about education are sparking the most important but basic of questions that most people simply do not know how to answer, like, “who is responsible for the dysfunction of school reopening,” and “why shouldn’t teachers have more time to prepare?”

But the impact of teachers unions’ pernicious actions on potential reopening of schools begs the public’s understanding. “Teachers’ unions are playing a powerful role in determining the shape of public education as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage,” reported the New York Times just today. 

Most do not have the luxury of knowing why, nor time to spend on learning the complex technical, social, political and practical aspects of how we do education in America. So here is a brief primer on why the ongoing actions of teachers unions, and the political leaders to whom they are beholden, continue to exacerbate inequity, unequal performance, and learning loss among students. Most important, this may help convey why their actions must be fought at every level.   

Union Organized Teacher Effort In Arizona Attacks Governor and Misinforms Educators About Current School Reopening Plans ARIZONA EDUCATORS UNITED

Follow the Power and Money

Unions control all employment and pay policies through the contracts they negotiate each year in most states and major cities, which also dictate educators’ time spent and even school operations. The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, who together represent more than 3 million teachers, nurses and other staff, are able to force governors and school districts to accept their demands, often without any push back. Those groups derive their power from the dues money that, until two years ago as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME, teachers were compelled to pay regardless of choice. Unsuspecting teachers are led to believe that without belonging to the union, they will suffer greatly, and are fearful of stepping away completely. Said one teacher last year when I suggested she consider leaving after she complained of how her dues were being spent, “I just don’t want to cause trouble in my district.” Together the unions spend approximately $2 billion annually, of which more than $400 million is spent on politics (that we know of, not including labor when they get out the vote and send their members canvassing the countryside). Right now, these groups are working to force their own view of what should happen in states.

Most teachers do not even know the extent to which rules are made for them that cause one of the biggest challenges they have: failing to be well-compensated for their important work. The Massachusetts Education Association, for example, did not demand that teachers who want to work vigorously to prepare for a new, difficult school year should be paid more, but only that the state delay school to give them time to prepare. The false premise on which this is predicated is that all schools and all teachers are wholly unprepared to tackle the challenges of remote learning, which the entire country has witnessed, participated in and endured for several months.

The Arizona Educators United which is mobilizing a “death march” against Governor Doug Ducey, who gave teachers a 20 percent pay raise and an additional $450 million, is fueling the public with a campaign that claims schools are not going to be safe, ignoring the fact that teachers and schools are already taking safety precautions in the schools and spaces that are either already open or that will reopen soon.  They are also ignoring the fact that the mandate to “open” school includes offering a wide array of options to allow teachers and students to do so remotely. Yet they are spending time and money on a campaign to shame the governor when it all that effort and capital could be spent to counsel, train and support teachers. It’s part of a nationwide strategy, just months from an election, that aims to strengthen their hold on how education operates in the U.S.

It is these same organizations, which claim to represent teachers, that work to maintain fixed pay rules, uniformly applied across the board, no matter what the sacrifice, performance or responsibilities of the teacher might be. They work to make it illegal for a school to pay a teacher more or differently because their speciality is unique or hard to find (e.g., science) or because they are far more experienced than another person. Teachers are paid not based on whether they know their subject or have demonstrated success, but based on their time in the classroom, seniority, and many other games that are too numerous to mention here. Were that not the case, great teachers would make great sums of money, teachers who want to work longer and take on more responsibilities would work to earn more, and teachers who were not effective, were less inclined to work or perhaps even chose to work less to accommodate other responsibilities would earn less.  

Great teachers are always working to develop new skills and strategies. They relish being given challenges and while teacher pay is problematic and broken they nevertheless welcome the challenge of working to find new ways to support their kids.

Still, as states around the country are being bullied into delaying school further allegedly to give teachers time to prepare, we should ask why they were not expected to be preparing earlier or at least considering the possibility of extending the school year another ten days rather than shortening it entirely. Some argue that if teachers had been expected to prepare for this difficult time during the summer that they should have been paid. Few of us would expect a teacher to put in the hours necessary to plan for a new kind of school year for no pay. But the fact is they were, and are paid. Teachers are paid for 12 months, even if they work for 9. Their benefits extend throughout the year, and many teachers actually choose to have their paychecks split over 12 months to ensure continued income flows. School district employees, while most were also remote the majority of time, were still working and, presumably, planning.

The costs of remote education which will be the rule not the exception for students once again also costs less than physical school.  “School systems can provide what they’re currently offering for well under half of their revenues,” says American Enterprise Institute scholar Rick Hess. He argues that just as they default to remote learning and “demand massive additional support,” their costs actually should be less. Factoring in everything from how much time teachers were required to spend during the pandemic, and what their new contracts say since, plus buildings, plus technology and more, the cost for systems to return should be dramatically lower than the more than $13,000 per pupil we spend annually (well over $20,000 per student in most major cities).

We’d have done well, however, to offer additional bonus pay to teachers willing to go the extra mile in preparing and training others to prepare earlier. There are plenty of funds left to do just that. When Covid-19 sent everyone home, the costs of running a school should have dropped, not increased. Labor was already covered by state and school system budgets across the board through year end, and new budgets that had been negotiated far in advance would begin to kick in on July 1. 

Education spending in the U.S. is at an unprecedented level, with ratios of administrators and non-teaching staff to students far outpacing relatively stagnant enrollment. School district coffers have in the recent economic boom been filled with surpluses that get carried over year after year.  Yet districts and unions are complaining that they do not have enough funding to prepare. Just this week Politico revealed that only two percent of the entire $13 billion allocated for K-12 education in the CARES Act had been drawn down. “Uncertainty over the next aid package is playing a role, said Noelle Ellerson Ng, the associate executive director of AASA,” which represents school administrators.

Yet AFT union chief Randi Weingarten, who serves on the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force that is dictating policy for the Democratic platform outrageously called for $1.2 million per school “or $2,300 per student, to open its doors safely.” 

And if that proposal doesn’t go through the unions will strike until it does. Remember that an election is just around the corner and the biggest power brokers (save for parents), for all the reasons above, are the teachers unions. 

All this should help explain why so many – from left to right – are uniting in demanding that education funding bypass this corrupt system and flow directly to parents to make the decisions about where and how to educate their children. That way, great schools and teachers will earn the funds the parents trust them to manage, and the billions the nation is spending to prop up adult special interests will become a thing of the past. Or so we can hope.

Follow Jeanne on Twitter or LinkedIn or some of her other work here.