This should be the BEST time for U.S. Catholic schools, in the last 50± years!

This should be the time when almost all US K-12 Catholic schools have full enrollment and (as a direct result) would be in strong financial conditions.

This should be the time when Catholic schools are building extensions, and new facilities are opening in hundreds of communities across the country.

The reason is simple: most US Public Schools are doing a very poor job (on multiple fronts), and the public is very much aware of this situation.

However, US Catholic schools are generally NOT taking advantage of this business and marketing opportunity, as they are in a rut. Let’s do a brief look at the enrollment history of US Catholic Schools (data from here and here):

• 1960s: 5.2 million students, and 13,000 schools.
• 1990s: 2.5 million students and 8,700 schools.
• 2020s: 1.7 million students and 5,800 schools.

This is what a failing business model looks like! What’s the underlying problem here? To understand that, we begin with the Bishops…

K-12 schools are located in (and overseen by) 143 US Dioceses — each headed by a Bishop (a clergy person). It is up to the Bishop as to: a) what priority K-12 Catholic education has in his Diocese, b) who he hires as a K-12 education superintendent, c) what guidance financially struggling K-12 schools get. Etc.

Unfortunately, the answers to all three of these are usually inadequate. Part of the problem is that in most Dioceses, the Bishop has little or no K-12 education expertise. As a result, he is immediately like a fish out of water.

So, to assist him, the Bishop hires a K-12 education Superintendent. Unfortunately, the Bishop does not know what skills such an employee should have, so they frequently hire an “experienced” person from the Public School system. The Bishop has no appreciation that such an individual comes with the heavy baggage of a failed system. This is NOT a recipe for success!

What is the end result? Let’s use the Syracuse Diocese of Central NY as an example. I can speak at length about this, as I grew up there. The Big Picture is that when I went to K-12 schools, there were about EIGHTY secondary Catholic schools in the diocese. Since that time, about SEVENTY have closed!

The reasons for this catastrophe are that the Syracuse Diocese: 1) has not prioritized educating children, 2) has not hired appropriate K-12 Superintendents, and 3) has not provided meaningful guidance to financially struggling Diocesan K-12 schools. The Diocese’ education people appear to be in the roll of city personnel who oversee failing residential structures being demolished. All that’s left of once thriving, vibrant homes is stones and dirt.

Because Syracuse Diocese schools are not given competent assistance by the Diocese, they still use the same economic model that they had 50+ years ago. Their marketing and education product have not evolved. Effectively, they are offering good-quality VHS tapes to the public. Yet when interest (and income) precipitously decline, they say: “We did our best!” Not so…

Here is another example of their unimaginative mentality. On the Syracuse Diocesan K-12 website, they are congratulating themselves because students in Diocesan schools test better than those in average NYS public schools.

But their data says that only 41% of Diocesan students are at grade level! (This vs 28% for NYS — which is weighed down by some distressed areas in large NYS cities that are rare in the Syracuse Diocese.) 41% of Diocesan students at grade level is something that they should be extremely embarrassed to publicize — yet to them this is an accomplishment!

This inadequate comparison reminds me of a witty remark that George Will made. He was once asked what it felt like to be one of the leading US journalists. He said, “It’s like being the tallest building in Topeka.”

Stunningly, there is a straightforward and LOW COST solution!

As a result of our very poor Public School system (see this fine list of Fifteen Problems), millions of parents are actively investigating K-12 education alternatives. This has resulted in an unprecedented explosion of home schooling, even though this is a VERY complex and extremely time-consuming option for parents. The simple reason that they are taking this arduous route is that they feel they have no other good choice!

Note that in the two largest cities in the Syracuse Diocese, there is an homeschooling increase of 102% and 223%! The message is clear…

What are they looking for? National surveys (e.g., here) have made it crystal clear: a) 75% said that they were dissatisfied with Public School morality, and b) 73% said that they were dissatisfied with Public School academics.

Since US K-12 Catholic schools are already offering the morality part, all they have to do to win most of these millions of parents over is to now provide (and proudly advertise) a SUPERIOR ACADEMIC PRODUCT!

As I outlined in a recent commentary, this basically means: 1) teaching the 3Rs traditionally, 2) teaching Critical Thinking, 3) teaching real Science (not NGSS), and 4) extracting WOKE ideology from the curricula (like History).

The Good news is that doing those four things are not expensive.

The Better news is that all this is consistent with their existing education commitments.

The Best news is that doing thos four things will likely double enrollement.

US K-12 Catholic schools have two fundamentally different choices:

1. Stick with an old (failing) business model that necessitates perpetual fundraising and will result in declining enrollment plus increasing tuition. This translates to fewer students and even more Cathcolic schools closing.
2. Adopt a new Full Enrollment business model. This is achieved by offering acadmeics that are markedly superior to Public Schools and Homeschools. This will translate to Catholic Schools expanding and more being built.

Yes, it is as simple as that…

©2025 John Droz, Jr. All rights reserved.

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