DC Misses Payment to Charter Schools...

From the Washington comPost:

The District missed a $103 million payment due to its 60 charter schools this morning, triggering serious cash flow problems for many of the publicly funded, independently operated schools and raising new questions about D.C. government's ability to meet its commitments as revenue declines.

The delay means that some schools will not be able to meet their payroll.
Charter school operators, who serve about 25,000 District school children on 90 campuses, were informed by Jeremy Williams, business oversight manager for the D.C. Public Charter School Board, that uncertainty surrounding tax revenue means their payment will be later and smaller than anticipated.

This of course will affect the Charter schools, converted from Catholic Schools. This will also affect the parishes that are leasing the schools to the Charter program.

This was an issue which I wrote about last November.

Center City Consortium - DC Council Hearing

A friend of mine let me know of a hearing at the DC Council of the Catholic schools converted to Charter.

Maureen Holla, the President of the Center City Consortium, speaks about 1 hour and 40 minutes into the video. She has some very interesting things to say.

Click here, then go to April 2nd, Part 2 Public Committee, Hearing of the Whole.

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Have you guessed correctly?

The Catholic school which was converted into a Charter school and has not received the first lease payment...

St. Gabriel.



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I am going to take a couple of days off to be with family.

So, I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas.

Remember, without Christ, there is no Christmas!

Orwell Lives

In this week’s Catholic Standard (Dec. 18, 2008 page 12), Thom Duffy (CFO Archdiocese of Washington DC) was recognized by the Greater Washington Society of CPAs as one of the city’s top nonprofit CFOs. He was given Honorable Mention for what the Society called “innovative work during the past year” that was “exemplary” and “worthy of recognition.” Congratulations!

Mr. Duffy stated that “I got the award on behalf of the Archdiocese of Washington and what we did last year, particularly for what we did in the conversion (of former Center City Consortium schools) to charter schools.”

Wait, let’s look carefully at that statement. Mr. Duffy received an award for closing Catholic schools and converting them into public charter schools. And, there is no guarantee that these charter schools will remain in existence, even past the first year.

Well, only in the Archdiocese of Washington DC and in the Catholic Standard can the closing of Catholic schools be lauded and praised.

Do the folks over in Hyattsville really believe what he is saying? Do they believe that we will just go "Yes! This is wonderful."

Personally, I don’t see the closing of Catholic schools as something to be really proud of, even though it may mean a larger revenue stream for the parishes which had those schools.

However, from what my sources tell me, not everything is perfect in paradise…

Some Thoughts on: Why is the Church Abandoning Them? (Part 2)

Continued from yesterday...

Third, Archbishop Wuerl is a consolidator. If certain segments of the Archdiocese are not in the at least breaking even, he will close them. He did it in Pittsburgh and he will do it here.

Fourth, our own Catholic groups are working against Catholic education. The Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC), USCCB, etc. have stopped fighting for vouchers/tax breaks for parents who send their children to Catholic schools. It is no where on their radar screens. Instead, they fight for reduced tuition rates for illegal aliens and increased taxes for people like you and me.

Archbishop Wuerl was negligent in not coming out with the closures at least one year in advance and not in November/December. This would have given the parishes some time to think about how to raise the necessary funds or come up with some other alternatives. Unfortunately, it was done, so that there would be no alternative.

However, I there are a couple of things about the article which are particularly bothersome to me.

1. “Committee to Save Black Catholic Schools” If Ms. Allen had written “Committee to Save White Catholic Schools” there would have been hell to pay by the author and the schools in question. The issue is not “black” or “white,” the issue is: Catholic schools. Period. End of Story. To inject race in it, will only drive away support. If this was really about race, then Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be setting up a couple of news conferences.


to be continued...

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Quote of the Month:



"I've got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old, I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby. So it doesn't make sense to not give them information." Barack Obama

Some thoughts on: "Why is the Church abandoning them?"

On April 20, 2008 the Washington Post printed an article written by S. Katryn Allen entitled: Why is the Church Abandoning Them? The article discusses her thoughts on the closing of a number of Catholic schools in Washington DC, as the spokesperson for the Committee to Save Black Catholic Schools.

I have not “o-pined” on it, since there were a number of other stories I wanted to get out but I thought that it was important to comment upon it.

First, I want to thank Ms. Allen for attempting to do what she can to save Catholic schools in DC. Catholic schools are a foundation upon which (1) the Church continues to show that it is an important part of the social fabric of the local community and (2) promotes the message of the Risen Christ. (Of course, there are many others.)

Second, she is correct about the fact that there are no political, business and civic leaders behind the move to stop this, even though, financially, this is going to hurt the District big time. This is money that the District simply does not have. (In Maryland, every child that leaves Catholic or private school to attend public school, will cost the state an additional $11,000 per year.)

She asks where the political, business and civic leaders are. I believe that there are no political, business and civic leaders jumping to help since Catholic schools teach kids that such things as abortion and the homosexual lifestyle are wrong. Why help continue to encourage schools that teach this, when it stands for everything that they (and their supporters) are against.

To be continued...

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Quote of the Month:

"I've got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old, I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby. So it doesn't make sense to not give them information." Barack Obama

Can Catholic Education Survive in the Archdiocese (continued)...

A couple of days ago, I posted on the City Center Consortium -- the amount of money spent, the merging of some schools, closing of others and the conversion of some into "values based" Charter schools. I would like to take this opportunity to follow-up on this.

First, I think that Archbishop Wuerl did the right thing and needs to be given credit for facing this issue head on. I do not believe that this is something he wanted to do and it was a difficult choice but I do believe that he did the right thing.

I think one of the most important issues discussed was the fact that he realizes that Catholic education, especially at the elementary school level, is hurting across the entire archdiocese. Costs have gone up and enrollment is down. This is due to a number of factors, not just any one particular one.

Second, the use of the school facilities for charter schools will bring some much needed revenue into parishes that may have seen their donations drop over the years. The drop in donations is usually due to a change in demographics. Since charter schools pay rent, it will be a boon to these parishes. Many inner city parishes (and that even includes the one that I grew up in) are facing the same problems -- delayed maintenance, increased costs and a decrease in donations.

Finally, I do think that we should be pushing more for "vouchers" or some sort of tax relief for parents who send their children to Catholic school. To that end, a future posting will be on my proposal for "vouchers."