The article implied that obviously Catholic school administrators had found some way to provide sophisticated educational products at a fraction of the cost of similar public educational programs. The Times writer didn't explain how Catholic program administrators accomplished the seemingly magical feat. The reporter referred once to salary disparities between public and private education. In addition, the fiscal measure of public education reflects substantial overhead costs and a transportation and food service budget. Such an umbrella statistic includes fiscal data from quite different programs.
Central administration represents the largest single cost peculiar to public education.
Since no statewide estimates for the cost of Catholic education exist, I assume that Catholic schools in Washington state cost about the same as the national average for Catholic schools in 1998-99. The Seattle Times article suggested that Catholic schools somehow produced programs that cost 40 percent less than public school counterparts. In fact, Catholic schools probably cost about 8 percent less than public schools' basic education programs, at least in Washington state. Public and Catholic school programs operate quite differently. Taking into account differences in administration, transportation and food service, the basic classroom cost for both public and Catholic programs was not especially different.