The majority of school-age children in private school attend parochial schools. Questions about the Constitutionality of government aid to parochial schools involve the Church-State intersection, and when the priority changed from equity to the child-benefit theory, centering on achievement, the situation had to be revisited.
Many Catholic schools were forced to close after the peak reached in the 1960s:
a. Many Catholic families joined the middle-class exodus from blighted communities, and few such schools were fund in the suburbs. middle-class Irish and Italian families started moving to the suburbs, leaving urban Catholic schools to cater to a majority of lower-income blacks and Hispanics. Catholic Schools: How to Fix Parochial Schools' Decline - TIME
b. Americans were migrating from the Northeast to western and southern states, which had no history of Catholic education.
c. The liberalization of the Church after Vatican II dimmed the sense of obligation to educate their children in parochial school. And resulted in fewer entering religious vocations resulted in higher tuition. In 1950, 90% of the teachers in Catholic schools came from religious orders; by 1967, the figure was 58%; today, it is 4%. This shift has meant that schools have had to raise tuition in order to pay more lay teachers. Catholic Schools: How to Fix Parochial Schools' Decline - TIME
d. The general revolt against authority in the culture begged the question of sending children to the most authoritarian and dogmatic educational milieu.
In 1981, James Coleman published the first significant finding that Catholic schools were more effective at education. (James S. Coleman, "Public Schools, Private Schools, and the Public Interest," The Public Interest No. 64 (Summer 1981).
Factors for and against:
e. Many families favored the safety, discipline, and attention to character development in addition to academics, but would have to continue paying public school property taxes in addition to tuition.
f. Teacher unions opposed any aid to schools that were not unionized.
g. Urban parochial schools were serving a growing share of disadvantaged and frequently non-Catholic youngsters. In a study published in 1990, for example, the Rand Corporation found that, of the Catholic school students in these Catholic high schools in New York City, 75 to 90 percent were black or Hispanic. And the report highlighted:
i. Over 66 percent of the Catholic school graduates received the New York State Regents diploma to signify completion of an academically demanding college preparatory curriculum, while only about 5 percent of the public school students received this distinction;
ii. The Catholic high schools graduated 95 percent of their students each year, while the public schools graduated slightly more 50 percent of their senior class;
iii. The Catholic school students achieved an average combined SAT score of 803, while the public school students' average combined SAT score was 642;
iv. 60 percent of the Catholic school black students scored above the national average for black students on the SAT, and over 70 percent of public school black students scored below the same national average.
 More recent studies confirm these observations. Why Catholic Schools Spell Success For America's Inner-City Children
Under the "child-benefit theory," government aid has been provided to the students of parochial schools, rather than to the schools themselves; by means of this compromise, the constitutional provision against aid to religious institutions is circumvented. In a number of cases, however, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided against state laws providing such aid to parochial schools, claiming that they violate the principle of separation between church and state. parochial school: Definition from Answers.com
Many Catholic schools were forced to close after the peak reached in the 1960s:
a. Many Catholic families joined the middle-class exodus from blighted communities, and few such schools were fund in the suburbs. middle-class Irish and Italian families started moving to the suburbs, leaving urban Catholic schools to cater to a majority of lower-income blacks and Hispanics. Catholic Schools: How to Fix Parochial Schools' Decline - TIME
b. Americans were migrating from the Northeast to western and southern states, which had no history of Catholic education.
c. The liberalization of the Church after Vatican II dimmed the sense of obligation to educate their children in parochial school. And resulted in fewer entering religious vocations resulted in higher tuition. In 1950, 90% of the teachers in Catholic schools came from religious orders; by 1967, the figure was 58%; today, it is 4%. This shift has meant that schools have had to raise tuition in order to pay more lay teachers. Catholic Schools: How to Fix Parochial Schools' Decline - TIME
d. The general revolt against authority in the culture begged the question of sending children to the most authoritarian and dogmatic educational milieu.
In 1981, James Coleman published the first significant finding that Catholic schools were more effective at education. (James S. Coleman, "Public Schools, Private Schools, and the Public Interest," The Public Interest No. 64 (Summer 1981).
Factors for and against:
e. Many families favored the safety, discipline, and attention to character development in addition to academics, but would have to continue paying public school property taxes in addition to tuition.
f. Teacher unions opposed any aid to schools that were not unionized.
g. Urban parochial schools were serving a growing share of disadvantaged and frequently non-Catholic youngsters. In a study published in 1990, for example, the Rand Corporation found that, of the Catholic school students in these Catholic high schools in New York City, 75 to 90 percent were black or Hispanic. And the report highlighted:
i. Over 66 percent of the Catholic school graduates received the New York State Regents diploma to signify completion of an academically demanding college preparatory curriculum, while only about 5 percent of the public school students received this distinction;
ii. The Catholic high schools graduated 95 percent of their students each year, while the public schools graduated slightly more 50 percent of their senior class;
iii. The Catholic school students achieved an average combined SAT score of 803, while the public school students' average combined SAT score was 642;
iv. 60 percent of the Catholic school black students scored above the national average for black students on the SAT, and over 70 percent of public school black students scored below the same national average.
 More recent studies confirm these observations. Why Catholic Schools Spell Success For America's Inner-City Children
Under the "child-benefit theory," government aid has been provided to the students of parochial schools, rather than to the schools themselves; by means of this compromise, the constitutional provision against aid to religious institutions is circumvented. In a number of cases, however, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided against state laws providing such aid to parochial schools, claiming that they violate the principle of separation between church and state. parochial school: Definition from Answers.com
