Catholics back laws to assist all schools

James Cultrara, associate director for education of the New York State Catholic Conference, said this perception is often prevalent during discussions of school choice.

"Many people think that we're advocating for our own schools," he said, "but we see this as a social justice issue" because families that don't have the economic means to pay for a private school education or to move to a different school district are forced to send their children to schools that are inadequate and at times unsafe.

Choices

Mr. Cultrara said Catholic educators don't expect that all families would choose a Catholic education. "We make no pretense that we know what school is best for each child," he said.

In addition, school choice would present new issues for Catholic schools themselves because "our schools are virtually filled to capacity," he said. "Our schools would face space challenges."

Catholics in public schools

"The reality is most Catholic young people are in public schools," said Sister Mary Jane Herb, IHM, superintendent of schools for the Albany Diocese.

In addition, Catholic and public schools are united in their mission. "All schools perform the same social service: the education of our children," Mr. Cultura noted. "A strong, diverse educational system can only help our children."

Legislation

* Education Investment Tax Credits, which would stimulate private sector support for all schools by allowing private sector donors to receive a tax credit of 50 percent of a donation to any school.

* Reading for Results, a program that would fund a range of early grade reading initiatives during the summer and over extended school breaks.

* Learning Technology Grants, which urge collaboration between public and non-public schools, and provide schools with the resources to integrate hardware and software into the curriculum.

* Universal Pre-Kindergarten, which provides children with the opportunity to have the advantage of quality preschool services.

* Teacher Centers, which help teachers enhance their knowledge and skills in order to meet the challenges of higher academic standards.

Myths

"Many people are under the false impression that resources and services provided to students attending religious and independent schools are an undue burden on taxpayers," Mr. Cultrara said. "To the contrary, without religious and independent schools, virtually all the respective education services would have to be fully paid for by the state and public school districts. Because parents have enrolled their children in religious and independent schools, New York's taxpayers will save nearly $5 billion this year alone."

Transportation is one area where it is often perceived that providing services to students in non-public schools costs public school districts money.

"If a parent can't get their child transported to a Catholic school because the public school refuses to provide transportation, it ends up costing the district" because parents enroll their children in the public school, he said. "If the public school spent the hundreds of dollars on transportation, it would have saved $10,000 it now has to spend on educating that child."

Educational services

A critical issue this year, for example, is whether students in nonpublic schools will receive Academic Intervention Services that are required by the state. The Regents require that Academic Intervention Services (AIS) be provided to students who score below state designated performance levels on state tests.

"The costs associated with meeting these standards are already being borne by our schools and we simply do not have the resources which are being made available to public schools to implement the mandates of the standards," Mr. Cultrara said.

Mandated services

According to Mr. Cultrara, the State Education Department has raised constitutional questions and recently indicated that it would not support providing the necessary AIS funds through mandated services reimbursement. Rather, the State Education Department is suggesting that the services be provided by a third party or at a neutral location. Private school educators do not favor this proposal because it removes a child from his or her classroom or even school building.

"To really help these kids, the help needs to take place at the school," Sister Jane said.

In addition, Mr. Cultrara said, providing the services on site would save the state and local districts money. "That's the case for resources in general," he said.

Burden on schools

"We're doing more with less," Sister Jane said. "With the new assessments, there's been an increase in our costs that's coming out of our pockets."

While Catholic school budgets will be strained further without AIS, the bigger issue is that children will suffer. "If we don't receive AIS, some children will not receive help," Mr. Cultrara said. "Their ability to receive a Regents diploma will be in jeopardy."

(Both Mr. Cultrara and Sister Jane encourage parents and other Catholics to write, call or visit their legislators regarding these issues. For more information, visit the New York State Catholic Conference's website at www.nyscatholicconference.org.)

(02-24-00) [[In-content Ad]]