Are Charters Enough Choice - School Choice and the Future of Catholic Schools

INTRODUCTION I. CATHOLIC SCHOOLS, CHARTER SCHOOLS, AND THE "CONVERSION" DEBATE A. Catholic Schools B. Charter Schools C. "Religious" Charter Schools and the "Conversion" Debate II. CHARTERS ARE NOT ENOUGH CHOICE A. The Charter-Choice Debate B. School Choice Without Catholic Schools 1. School Choice and the "Catholic School Effect" 2. School Choice and Neighborhood Social Capital 3. School Choice and the Rule of Law 4. School Choice and Educational Pluralism CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION Padua Academy--an Indianapolis charter school--opened in August 2010. Technically speaking, that is. Until May 2010, a Catholic school--St. Anthony Academy--occupied the same school building. Catholics will immediately notice the connection between the names of the charter school and its Catholic antecedent. Both were named for Saint Anthony of Padua--a thirteenth-century priest renowned for his preaching, who is popularly revered as the patron saint of lost things. (1) The nomenclative similarity between Padua Academy's sister school, Andrew Academy, and its Catholic predecessor, St. Andrew/St. Rita Academy, is even more readily apparent. This is not mere happenstance. In 2010, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis decided to close St. Anthony and St. Andrew/St. Rita and reopen them as charter schools. The Archdiocese justified the decision as a means of "saving" the schools, explaining, "[m]any urban Catholic schools are closing across the nation, and we did not want to leave the students or communities we currently serve.... Through this transformation, an urgent and unmet need within urban Indianapolis will be filled." (2) The "transformation" is a curious one. Much has changed inside the walls of these two school buildings since May 2010. Most significantly, religion has been stripped from the schools' curricula and religious iconography from their walls. Still, the schools' day-to-day operations continue to be directly managed by the Archdiocese, students continue to wear uniforms; and the schools educational culture continues to mimic in many respects the traditional "Catholic school" formula--high expectations for both student academic performance and parental involvement, a disciplined and orderly school environment, and an emphasis on character education. (3) Moreover, the Archdiocese offers religious education classes after school for charter school students, and, while attendance at these classes is not mandatory (and cannot be, by law), participation rates exceed fifty percent at the predominantly Latino Padua Academy and falls just shy of that level at Andrew Academy, where the student body is predominantly African American and non-Catholic. (4) Padua and Andrew Academies are, in some respects, sui generis: the Archdiocese of Indianapolis appears to be the only diocese in the United States directly operating charter schools and also appears to be the only diocese that provides after-school religious education targeted specifically for charter school students. The facts underlying the Archdiocese's decision to close St. Anthony and St. Andrew/St. Rita, however, are anything but sui generis. At least 1600 Catholic schools, most of them located in urban areas, have closed during the past two decades, displacing over 300,000 students. The persistence of the financial and demographic realities underlying these school closures suggest that this trend will continue and even accelerate in the coming years. (5) The Archdiocese of Indianapolis also is not the only diocese to consider "converting" its inner city Catholic schools to charter schools rather than close them altogether. Although such conversions are controversial in Catholic education circles, the financial realities facing many dioceses and the concomitant desire of bishops to avoid abandoning inner city neighborhoods suggest the number of charter conversions likely will increase in coming years. …