The Common Good-Enough

In my latest commentary piece for the Mackinac Center, I lament the impending closure of many Detroit Catholic schools. Why? Because they have been repeatedly shown over the past several decacdes to outperform public schools on a host of measures, including academic achievement, graduation rates, and civic mindedness.

Here's an excerpt:

Given Catholic schools’ superior social and academic effects, it would seem sensible to structure education policy so as to make Catholic schooling more readily available to all families — especially to the low-income and minority families whose children benefit disproportionately from the schools’ services.

We have done the opposite..

Though parental-choice programs like vouchers and universal tax credits can bring Catholic schooling within reach of any family who seeks it, we have instead elected to make only a half-hearted nod in the direction of parental choice: charter schooling..

As state-owned enterprises, charter schools may not be religiously affiliated. That exclusion has not simply kept Catholic schooling beyond the reach of many families; it has eroded the existing enrollments of Catholic schools with the lure of zero tuition and the promise of an education at least somewhat better than that of traditional public schools. Our current education policy gives many low-income families a Solomonic choice between the schooling they really want and the schooling they can really afford..

To be fair, charter schools are somewhat more effective than conventional public schools, but the magnitude of their effect pales in comparison to that of Catholic schools, and it raises the question: When did our commitment to the common good become a commitment to the common good-enough?

The full version on the Mackinac website has hotlinks to some of the supporting evidence.