This week, Catholics come together to celebrate Catholic Schools Week and reflect on the contribution that Catholic schools make to the educational landscape and what it means to the lives of young people across the country.
For generations, Catholic schools have served diverse populations as pillars of quality education and champions of fundamental values, especially for Hispanic families. For their sake and for all of our students, Catholic schools must remain strong for generations to come.
Hispanic Americans want what Catholic schools have to offer. The Latino community in the United States values the richness of its traditions: faith, education, relationships, and the ideals fostered by Catholic faith and schools. But finances can also be a barrier. Latinos make up about 70 percent of all U.S. Catholics, but only 19.3 percent of U.S. Catholic school enrollment.
Most Catholic schools offer financial aid, but it is not always enough for families to receive a Catholic education. For more than 50 years, Catholic schools have continued to close because the financial burden has become unsustainable, especially in underserved communities that are doing everything they can to meet every student.
But things change when school choice programs become available.
For example, admission to Catholic schools in Florida grew up to 4% for the 2023-24 school year, compared to recent slow growth and long-term enrollment declines in states with fewer school options.For the past 10 years, Florida has only condition Among the regions with the largest Catholic populations and growing enrollment in Catholic schools.
It’s not that Catholic Floridians want a church-based education any more than their brothers and sisters in other states. However, cost is not a barrier in the Sunshine State.
For Catholics, education is core to our identity, and we need to expand this opportunity by any means necessary, especially for the Hispanic community.
Catholic schools, as they have done for centuries, educate the community’s future Latino leaders and provide a path to the American Dream. Catholic schools often do work that the public education system cannot or will not do. That means reaching out to the community and providing a world-class education.
At a time when this system was failing students, especially Hispanic students, Catholic schools stepped up.For example, an 8th grade Catholic student Increased by 1 point on average Post-pandemic reading comprehension scores compared to a 3-point drop for eighth graders in public schools. In Catholic schools, fourth-grade math scores remained the same, but in public schools for the same grade, they dropped by five points.
In states like mine (Nevada), private Catholic schools operate in some of the poorest neighborhoods and aim to put these children on a path to success. For many of these Latino families, these facilities become an extended family of sorts.
In my work as a school choice advocate, I have met dozens of families who seek parental choice for a variety of reasons. Catholic schools have responded to these urgent needs, preparing children academically and as active members of their communities. Other Catholic schools offer practical, real-world experiences where students gain professional and practical knowledge. This opportunity is valuable, especially for my community.
Inequalities in the public education system result in Hispanic children falling below the national average for high school graduates, and NAEP test scores show that Latino students are two years behind in reading proficiency. Catholic schools stand in that gap, opening their doors to underserved families who would otherwise have no other options.
Catholic schools provide a safe space for Hispanic students to receive a personalized education so they can succeed and not become a statistic. For our future, we must continue to advance school choice so that the pillars of our community continue for generations to come.
Valeria Garr serves as a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children. She is a passionate advocate for educational choice, especially for underserved families, and founded la Federación Americana Para los Niños. For more information, please visit: federationforchildren.org/staff/valeria-gurr.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.
