Connecticut’s Catholic schools are focused on the spiritual, moral, intellectual, physical and social dimensions of children and youth, so that they may serve all.
Catholic Schools in Connecticut
Number of Catholic Schools: 134
Enrollment: 37,500
Average Cost Per Pupil in Catholic Schools: $4,755
Average Cost Per Pupil in Connecticut’s Public School: $12,336
Savings for Taxpayers of Connecticut: $430 Million
Minority Enrollment: 5,846 – 16%
Student Teacher Ratio: 12 to 1
Graduation Rates of Catholic High Schools: 99%
Catholic High School Seniors
Pursuing Further Education or Military: 99%
Why are Catholic Schools Succeeding?
Our schools are a partnership between students, teachers and parents.
Our schools have created an environment where learning is the highest priority.
Our schools sponsor athletic participation for physical development, vigorous academic pursuit, for intellectual development and service to fellow human beings for moral development.
Our schools have high parent involvement and ownership of the school’s philosophy and programs.
Catholic schools provide young people with a sound education through a broad-based curriculum. Our Catholic school curriculum does exceed state standards and it also enhances the knowledge and skills for students to think critically and become productive moral citizens within a multicultural and technological society.
Accreditation
All of Connecticut’s Catholic schools are accredited by the New England Association of Schools and College.
Testing
The average SAT score of students attending Catholic high schools is above both the state of Connecticut and national average in all three tested areas.
Students in grades 3 through 7 take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills every year and the average scores for students in Connecticut’s Catholic schools were above grade level in all tested areas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Does school choice help students do better in school?
A large number of high quality studies have show that school choice improves academic achievement. No such study has ever found that school choice harms academic achievement.
A 1998 Harvard study found that after four years of participation in the Milwaukee voucher program, students gained 11 points in math and six points in reading compared to the control group.
A 2002 Harvard study found that African-American students participating in a privately funded voucher program in New York improved their reading and math scores by 9.2 percentile points more than the control group.
A 2003 Manhattan Institute study found that 93 percent of students participating in the Florida McKay program were satisfied with their McKay schools, while only 33 percent were satisfied with their public schools.
Q. Does school choice make public schools better?
A large body of studies shows that competition from school choice improves public schools. No empirical study has ever found that school choice hurts public-school outcomes.
A 2004 study by the Manhattan Institute found that schools facing competition from vouchers outpaced other Florida schools by 15 points in test scores.
A 2001 Harvard study found that public schools in Milwaukee that were exposed to voucher competition had test-score gains over a three-year period that outpaced other public schools.
Q. Doesn’t school choice drain resources from public schools?
School choice programs do not drain money from public schools. Actually, they leave more money behind to educate the fewer students attending public schools. No state or city with school choice has seen its public school budgets decrease.
The amount of money spent on a voucher or scholarship for each student is less than what would have been spent on that student if he or she had remained in public schools.
In Connecticut the average per student costfor a public school student is over $11,000, while the average tuition for a Catholic school student is $4,755.
Q. Does the public really want school choice?
Numerous polls find that most Americans express support for school choice. More importantly, parents of all backgrounds support school choice, because they know it is best for their children.
A 2000 University of Connecticut poll found that 64 percent agreed and 34 percent disagreed, that “parents should have the option of sending their children to religious schools instead of public schools using voucher or credits provided by the government that would pay for some or all costs”.
A 2002 Zogby poll found that 64 percent of Hispanic Americans supported “allowing poor parents to be given the tax dollars allotted for their child’s education and permitting them to use those dollars in the form of a scholarship to attend a private, public or parochial school of their choosing”.
A 2005 Sacred Heart University poll found that 77 percent of African Americans supported school vouchers allowing parents to move their children from under-performing schools to more successful schools.
Q. Is Government assistance to private and religious schools constitutional?
Rulings by the United States Supreme Court strongly favor school choice. Because parents make a truly independent choice of where to send their children to school, there is no violation of the United States Constitution if they freely choose a religious school.
There have been 12 United States Supreme Court Cases that have ruled in favor of Government assistance to private and religious schools.
In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Cleveland’s voucher program and there have been four separate decisions in support of textbook loan programs.
Q. Does school choice really lead to more integrated schools?
Research shows that children using school choice attend more integrated schools than their public school counterparts.
In Connecticut, 15% of the students attending Catholic schools are minorities. There are numerous studies, including a Harvard University study and a 2002 Marquette University study that show private and religious school classrooms are more integrated than public school classrooms, especially if those schools have options for a school choice program.
