Good Schools Close, Ed Reformers Shrug
by Robert PondiscioJanuary 14th, 2011
Imagine the hue and cry–the marches on city hall and the state capitol–if dozens of high-performing charters were forced to close because of budget problems. The heart-rending profiles of children thrown back into failing schools! Bill Gates and Oprah demanding we do what’s best for children! So why the silence and indifference greeting this week’s news that New York City will lose 27 more Catholic schools?
The data doesn’t lie: 99 percent NYC’s catholic school seniors graduate, and 96 percent go to college. Outcomes to die for. Over at Flypaper, Daniella Fairchild notes Fordham’s own estimate that “Catholic school closures have cost U.S. taxpayers at least $20 billion” as their students get absorbed back into public schools. But then she blithely dismisses
