The Collapse of Catholic School Enrollment: The Unintended Consequence of the Charter School MovementAbraham M. LackmanGovernment Scholar in ResidenceAlbany Law School's Government Law CenterConfidential DraftSubmitted August 12, 2012Revised September 10, 2012
Table of ContentsI. Introduction1Key FindingsII. Trends in Catholic School Enrollment6 Two Waves of Enrollment Decline The Second WaveIII. The Impact of Charter Schools on Catholic School Enrollment10“Disruptive Innovation”Michigan and New York: A Look at the EvidenceClosing Saint CasimirIV. The Fiscal Impact of Charter Schools19V. Concluding Observations21VI. Attached Footnotes23
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“One of the persistent ironies of reform is the impossibility of predicting the fullconsequences of change; every school war has had outcomes which were unintended, and, inmay cases, unwanted.”
I. IntroductionOn September 7, 1992, City Academy opened in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the first charterschool in the nation.
Today there are over 5,600 charter schools in forty-one states with atotal enrollment of more than two million students.
A charter school is an independent public school. It operates free from many of thelaws and regulations that govern traditional public schools. In exchange for this flexibility, itagrees to the terms of a contract, or “charter,” that defines its unique mission, academicgoals, and accountability procedures.
Supporters of the charter school argue it expands school choice. Charters provide free,publicly funded alternatives to the traditional public schools. This competition is intended toencourage innovation and excellence in public schools.
Opponents of charter schools raise two objections. First, they claim that charterschools don't work. They cite Stanford University research showing that, nationally, only 17%
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