Catholic
Education
After up and downs, vouchers take hold
By NANCY ERIKSON
Victoria Pope knows a good thing when she sees it.
Never mind that her family is not Catholic. She wants her children
to be taught by the Sisters of the Notre Dame at St. Francis School in the
heart of her east side inner-city Cleveland neighborhood.
A member of Shiloh Church of Christ, an African-American apostolic
church in Cleveland, Pope sends five of her children to St. Francis, something
she wouldn’t be able to afford to do without the Cleveland Scholarship and
Tutoring Program, more commonly known as the school voucher program.
“They’re really concerned about the children,” Pope
said. “I like the values and the morals that are reinforced there. It
doesn’t matter that we’re not Catholic. You know they’re
committed to the children as well as to the faith.”
The Pope family’s children are just five of the nearly 4,000
who are being educated with help from the Cleveland school voucher program this
year.
Having teachers who are committed to their students was an
important selling point for Pope when she began looking for an alternative to
sending her children to the Cleveland public schools seven years ago.
She first signed up for school vouchers -- which pay 90 percent of
her children’s tuition -- in 1996 when her son, Marvin, was in first
grade. That same year, her daughter, Autumn, was in kindergarten at the local
public school. The teacher said Autumn was not doing well in her class and
would have to be held back and eventually tested for a learning disability. But
the school said the necessary tests could not be administered for a few years
-- at which point, Autumn would already be three years behind.
In her heart, Pope knew her daughter only needed a little help and
attention from the teacher rather than be left to “fall through the
cracks.” She turned to St. Francis.
Today, Autumn is in sixth grade at St. Francis where she earns
mostly above-average grades. She has many friends and is part of an advanced
class for creative writing.
“When I was at the public school, teachers wouldn’t
explain the work,” she said. “Most of the time, I did it wrong. At
St. Francis, the teachers care.” Her brother Marvin also remembers going
to kindergarten in Cleveland public schools.
“Sometimes when I would come home from school, my mother
would say, ‘What did you learn today?’ And I would say, ‘I
don’t know. They didn’t teach me anything,’ ” he said.
“At St. Francis, every day I learn something new.”
Marvin Pope isn’t the only one who has been learning
something new every day during the last seven years.
Humility of Mary Sr. Carol Anne Smith, diocesan superintendent and
secretary for education, recalls that when the state introduced the school
choice program into its budget in July 1995, she and the pastors and principals
of the Cleveland Catholic schools weren’t sure what they were getting
themselves into.
What they were sure of though was that low-income Cleveland
parents needed an advocate to help their children get a quality education.
As soon as the program was implemented in the 1995-96 school year,
court battles ensued. The main argument was that public money should not be
used in religious schools. For advocates of the program, the issue was not
about religious education but about allowing parents to use their tax money to
fund the school of their choice.
An unknown place
Six years later, on June 27, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld
the constitutionality of Cleveland’s voucher program. Since then, the
school choice movement seems to be growing. Today, supporters for school choice
in other states such as Vermont, Maine and Washington are attempting to remove
state constitutional barriers to school choice programs based on the Cleveland
decision.
“This was an unknown place,” Smith said. “Truly
there were ups and downs. We did this because of our commitment to families,
our commitment to Catholic education and the rights of parents to choose a
school for their children.”
Parents, as it turned out, were eager to join the cause.
Christine Suma, a member of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, was
one of the leaders in the grass-roots movement, Cleveland Parents for School
Choice. Suma and her husband Stephen are raising 12 children, five of whom are
using vouchers to attend Our Lady of Good Counsel School in the Sumas’
west side neighborhood.
Going to school at Our Lady of Good Counsel is a family tradition
for the Sumas. Both Christine and Stephen attended the school as children.
“Our roots run deep,” Christine Suma said. “We know
they’ll receive a quality education. That’s the way a child should be
brought up.”
It wasn’t long though before Suma realized there was a larger
picture than just her family. A stay-at-home mom and passionate about the
issue, Suma agreed to become a liaison and representative for other poor and
low-income parents wanting their children to have an opportunity at getting a
quality education.
She recalls that it was particularly hard on parents and children
when the case was making its way through the courts, leaving them unsure as to
whether their children would be able to continue going to the schools of their
choice.
“While waiting for a decision, we were on pins and
needles,” Suma recalled. “I think parents today are glad to know
their children are getting a good education. Parents will never let this go.
They will never let this be swept under the rug.”
Despite the bitter court battle over the voucher program, Smith
insists that she feels no hard feelings toward the Cleveland public school
system. In fact, she said, she personally has never criticized the public
schools.
To this day, Smith said she continues to maintain a friendly and
professional relationship with Cleveland Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who
has been a catalyst for reform in the beleaguered school system since being
hired in 1998.
Taking guidance from the 1995 U.S. bishops’ conference
document, “Principles for Educational Reform in the United States,”
Smith said the diocese’s concern for educational reform goes beyond
Catholic schools and embraces children in all schools who have the right to
quality education.
“I think choice is a justice issue,” she said. “It
was because of this belief that our pastors and principals choose to be
pioneers in this important effort.”
Public schools improve
For the most part, the efforts toward reform have been becoming
reality.
When the 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court came down last
summer, Byrd-Bennett pointed out that the court based its decision on a school
system that “no longer exists.”
Under her leadership, proficiency scores are improved, safety
issues have been addressed and voters even passed a $335 million capital bond
two years ago for improvements to dilapidated school buildings.
Last November, Clevelanders also voted to retain the
mayor-appointed school board, giving a clear mandate for the district to
continue supporting Byrd-Bennett’s reform efforts.
The Rev. Hilton O. Smith, chairman of the Cleveland Board of
Education, acknowledged last summer that Cleveland still has a long way to go
toward achieving a quality educational experience for all children but added
that the city’s schools are much better than they were when the voucher
program started.
Of greatest concern to public schools officials is whether or not
poor students in the Cleveland school system are penalized by the voucher
program.
The voucher program receives money from the aid for safety and
remediation fund of the Ohio Department of Education’s Disadvantaged Pupil
Impact Aid fund. Cleveland schools are also able to apply for these monies and
are able to receive funding from the state’s other two funds -- all-day
kindergarten and aid for classroom-size reduction.
Smith added that the voucher program -- which also helps children
going to other religious and private schools in Cleveland -- has not boosted
enrollment in Catholic schools nor has the program gone to “fund”
Catholic schools.
When the program began in 1995, the 31 participating Catholic
schools had an enrollment of roughly 11,500. This school year, enrollment was
7,518, after two of the participating schools closed. Of those students in
Cleveland Catholic schools, 55 percent or 3,917 students use voucher
scholarships.
As part of the program, parents apply for a scholarship where the
state pays either 75 percent or 90 percent of the tuition cost based on the
need of the family. Although the state program allows for a maximum of $2,250
per scholarship, the average scholarship was $1,951 while the average cost of
educating a student is $2,800.
Smith said the program continues to be as important as it was
seven years ago because it provides parents with educational choice and helps
bring quality education to children in need. It is not about condemning the
local school system, she said.
“This is not about competition,” Smith said. “This
is about parental choice. How do we know it’s working? We look at our
children. They have what they wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
Heart of the matter
Despite the positive impact on low-income students, the Cleveland
voucher program is not without its challenges.
Smith said the amount of paperwork for the administrations of the
schools has increased tremendously. Many of the schools take applications for
voucher scholarships all year long.
Even so, Smith said the extra work is worth it.
“The marvelous dimension of this program is that it provides
parents in the city of Cleveland with a choice in the education of their
children,” Smith said. “The heart of the matter has been
choice.”
The heart of the matter also has been about the ability of
educators to meet the challenge of serving changing student populations.
At St. Francis School, for example, the student body is much
different from what it was when the school was founded more than 100 years ago.
Started in 1887 as a parish school serving mostly German immigrants coming to
Cleveland to work in the steel mills, today the school is 97 percent
African-American and 98 percent non-Catholic. Also, 76 percent of the students
are on a free or reduced school lunch and are living at or below the poverty
level.
At St. Francis, the voucher program has been vital for students.
When the program started in 1996, they had 24 voucher students. Today, there
are 155 students on vouchers of the 250 students who attend the school.
“It’s changed the mission of who we serve,” said
Notre Dame Sr. Michelle Kelly, assistant principal at St. Francis. “We now
serve the poor.”
Notre Dame Sr. Karen Somerville, principal, added that parents
often tell them they like St. Francis because of the strong academic program,
safe environment and moral teachings.
It’s in the moral teachings where the sisters have found one
of their greatest challenges -- keeping their Catholic identity in a school
that is mostly non-Catholic. One solution has been to incorporate other
traditions into religion class. For example, when the children learn about the
Catholic sacrament of baptism, they are then assigned to do a report about how
their church celebrates baptism.
“We’re a Catholic school and we teach the Catholic faith
with a great respect for other religious traditions,” Somerville said.
“Our teaching is not an effort to convert. It’s an effort to inform.
We encourage the children to attend whatever church they belong to.”
On Cleveland’s west side, Ursuline Sr. Caroline Kocur,
principal at St. Vincent de Paul School, said they have seen a steady increase
in the last school year in students applying for vouchers. Of the 344 students
at the school, 215 are on voucher scholarships with more applying all the time.
In fact, just this month, she had two more students apply.
They are also seeing a slight increase in the number of students
coming to school who are not Catholic and are less prepared for school.
She’s noticed that teachers often must work more closely with new students
until they get “caught up” with the rest of their class.
Still, as with many of the communities of nuns who came to the
Cleveland diocese to start schools and serve the underserved, sisters today say
they feel that the charism of their communities calls them to reach out to the
children coming to their schools now who would not be able to attend without
vouchers.
“We’ve seen a lot of parents do want to have a good
education for their children,” she said. “Whether they are Catholic
or not, they want their children to have a good moral background.”
Expanding the program
Making sure that a good education is available to all children
remains at the top of the agenda for Cleveland parents who continue to make
sure the voucher program stays strong in Ohio.
Suma explains that although the Supreme Court has ensured the
program’s legality, parents are concerned that the current state budget
deficit could jeopardize the program.
They also are beginning to have concerns that parents who are able
to send their children to Catholic elementary schools will be unable to afford
to continue that child’s Catholic education in high school.
Suma said parents “have been talking” and may start a
movement toward expanding the scholarship program into the high schools. For
the most part, she finds that there are many kinds of people who use vouchers
-- poor, low-income, working families, single-parent families.
One thing they all have in common though is the dream of a better
life for their children, she said.
“It’s the poor who can’t move out of the
city,” Suma said. “Education will help that child. Otherwise, the
child may never get out of poverty. We need to break the cycle.
“Just because you’re a family of faith does not mean you
should be penalized,” she added. “You should decide where the money
is going to go. To me, it’s a civil rights issue for parents.”
For Doris Durica, a parishioner at Ascension Church whose
daughter, Monica, is a seventh-grader at the school, the issue of school choice
has been a long tradition in her family. Her parents were supporters of this
concept back in the 1960s when she was growing up in Lorain, a city west of
Cleveland.
When her daughter was three months old, Durica’s husband
died, leaving her to raise her children by herself. Without the voucher
scholarships, Monica would not be able to attend Ascension.
“I have always felt that parents should have a choice,”
she said. “We all pay taxes and we all feel our money should go to the
school we want.”
The scholarship program also has meant parents like Tina Kuntz, a
parishioner at St. Vincent de Paul Church on Cleveland’s west side, are
able to build better family lives for their children.
Kuntz recalls that when she was raising her older son as a single
mother, she had to work several jobs to support them. She was working so much,
she missed out on his growing up.
Today, Kuntz is married and has three daughters at St. Vincent de
Paul School on voucher scholarships. She is able to be a stay-at-home mom,
where she feels she can work in partnership with the teachers in educating her
children.
She said the one-on-one time with her daughters who are in fifth
and third grades has proven to be a successful combination with their Catholic
education. They are mostly earning As and Bs on their report cards.
“We pay taxes like everyone else,” Kuntz said. “We
just want our money to go to a school of our choice. I wanted the best for my
children and I say a Catholic education is what’s best for them.”
Educators, too, see the voucher system as more than a financial
program but as a social justice issue.
“Everyone needs a good education no matter their financial
status,” said Kocur. “All parents should be able to have a
choice.”
“When it was back and forth in the courts, we would think
what’s going to happen? It put a tremendous strain on our parents and
students,” Somerville said. “We always assured them to stay with us.
We’re going to stick together.”
Nancy Erikson is the features editor for The Catholic
Universe Bulletin, the newspaper of the diocese of Cleveland.
Related Web sites
Diocese of Cleveland Office of
Catholic
Education
www.dioceseofcleveland.org/education/oce
Cleveland
Municipal School District
www.cmsdnet.net
Ohio Department of
Education Office of School
Options
www.ode.state.oh.us/school_options
National Catholic Reporter, March 21,
2003
|
