The Miami Archdiocese’s charter school experiment

Charter schools will open this fall where some Catholic schools once stood in the Archdiocese of Miami; it is a solution for struggling parishes but does it bode well for the future of Catholic education?

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MIAMI BUREAU EDITOR

Posted: 07.01.09 | Updated: 07.13.09

They’re not Catholic schools. But pastors in many cases will develop after-school programs in religious education.”
–Brother Richard DeMaria

MIAMI | Like many other parents, Isabel Rodriguez was upset when she found out that Sacred Heart School in Homestead was closing.

Her daughter had started kindergarten there and was about to enter seventh grade. Rodriguez, a Sacred Heart parishioner, seriously considered sending her to another religious school nearby, even if it was not Catholic.

Then she found out that a charter school, Somerset SoHo, would be opening this fall on the parish premises. She attended meetings hosted by Somerset administrators. She talked to friends whose children attend another Somerset school.

“The education they are talking about providing is obviously top-notch,” said Rodriguez, whose daughter will be attending Somerset SoHo this fall – as will most of her Sacred Heart classmates.

This is not the first year…

…that financial circumstances forced the closure of archdiocesan schools. Read a historical list of schools, openings and closings here.

“I think it’s going to be good for everybody,” Rodriguez said. “The parents are very satisfied,” even though they were among the most vocal proponents of keeping Sacred Heart School open when its closing was announced at the end of January.

After the initial shock and anger, Rodriguez said, “They realized it was impossible to raise that extraordinary amount of money given the situation we are in.”

And so, the Archdiocese of Miami will begin its experiment with charter schools this fall.

What was intended as a pilot program at one parish – Corpus Christi in Wynwood – will become, for financial reasons, the norm at seven more. Charters also will open in August where five other Catholic schools closed this June: Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Divine Providence in Sweetwater, St. Francis Xavier in Overtown, St. Stephen in Miramar and St. Clement in Fort Lauderdale.

Going Charter

Read more about reactions at three parishes whose former schools will be operated as charter schools at the start of school year.

At St. Malachy: Facing reality

At St. Stephen: Finding alternatives

At St. Francis Xavier: Continuity and doubt

A seventh charter will open at St. Malachy in Tamarac, which opted to close its school before its financial situation deteriorated further. And an eighth charter will open in Miami Gardens, in the building used by St. Monica School until it closed in May 2008.

Charter schools are free, funded by public dollars, so religion cannot be taught during the school day. Unlike traditional public schools, however, charter schools operate independently of the local school board and have more leeway in managing day-to-day operations.

Because the parishes are leasing their former school buildings to the charter schools, they are deriving income from the properties. The amount ranges between $150,000 and $350,000 this first year, “depending on the size, capacity and condition of the facilities,” according to Fernando Zulueta, president of Academica, a company that provides management and support services for most of the charter schools opening on archdiocesan properties.

In nearly every case, the rental income will allow the parishes to pay their bills and stay open. The churches also retain the right to use the facilities after school hours.

“They’re not Catholic schools. But pastors in many cases will develop after-school programs in religious education,” said Brother Richard DeMaria, a member of the Congregation of Christian Brothers who serves as director of the archdiocese’s Ministry of Christian Formation and superintendent of schools.

“We are by no means the first (to partner with charter schools),” he added. “There are many dioceses in the country that have gone this way already,” including Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn, N.Y.

But the trend is worrisome to many Catholic school administrators.

“Now the danger is that these charter schools will take kids away from Catholic schools that are remaining open. I sure hope that doesn’t happen,” Brother DeMaria said.

Father Paul Vuturo thinks it already has.

“Definitely, they have siphoned previous Catholic students,” said the pastor of St. Bartholomew Parish in Miramar, whose school benefited last year from the closing of St. Monica in Miami Gardens.

Father Vuturo said he would prefer that charter schools not open immediately after Catholic schools close, but perhaps wait a year, as happened with St. Monica.

Although some students from St. Stephen have enrolled at St. Bartholomew, he said, he does not think the jump in enrollment will be comparable to last year’s. “Why wouldn’t they (send them there)? It almost becomes a deterrent for them to be looking to some of the neighboring Catholic schools.”

Some parents will look for and find a Catholic school that meets their needs, said Kristen Hughes, associate superintendent of elementary schools. But “many are staying (in the charter). They’re saying, my child is in the same place. They’re able to take religion classes at the end of the day or a couple of times a week. And there’s no charge. Right now, that’s an attractive option for a lot of people, the way the economy is going.”

She emphasized that, despite their location, the charter schools are public schools with “a completely different philosophy of education” from the Catholic schools.

“It’s certainly a back–up plan that was never originally intended,” Father Vuturo said of the charter schools. “Jury is still out on how comfortable we are going to be having in our parishes another business that uses our buildings five days a week. We just need time to see how it’s going to work.”

FAST FACTS

• In the 2008-2009 school year, there were 35,901 students in 58 elementary schools, 13 secondary schools and one special-education school within the Archdiocese of Miami (Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties).

• More than 600 of those students received state-funded McKay scholarships; more than 1,200 received the state’s corporate tax scholarships or privately funded PRIDE – Parental Rights in Deciding Education – scholarships; and 147 participated in the free voluntary pre-k program.

• The average per-pupil expenditure in schools administered by the Archdiocese of Miami in 2007-2008 (the most recent year for which statistics are available) was $4,793 for elementary schools and $6,828 for secondary schools.

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