With the prospect of having to close 14 more Catholic schools within the Diocese of Brooklyn on top of the 32 they have already shut down since 2005, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has turned to the city in an attempt to secularize at least four of them into public charter schools. At a press conference alongside DiMarzio, Mayor Bloomberg said about the potentially closing schools, “Many if not most of the students would be likely to seek admission in Brooklyn and Queens public schools that are already at or near capacity, which gives us all a shared interest in finding innovative ways to keep these school doors open.” The mayor says that he supports any legislation needed to make it happen since such a conversion would currently be prohibited by statewide regulations. A similar plan was enacted in Washington DC where seven parochial schools have been converted into charter schools. Catholic schools throughout the five boroughs have been closing in rapid succession with enrollment declines over the last few years. more ›

14 Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens will close by this time next year due to plummeting enrollment, and other schools will merge in an attempt to adapt with changing trends nationwide. If the proposal announced yesterday by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn (which also includes Queens) is carried out, the diocese will have shut down nearly one-third of the elementary schools it had just half a decade ago, the Times reports. more ›

New York City Catholic schools are seeing their enrollment numbers dropping dramatically, leading to fears that more schools will have to consolidate or join the 1,300 that have closed nationwide since 1990. Enrollment within the Archdiocese of New York has dropped almost 7% in the last year alone. Catholic schools have long been considered a vital cornerstone in educating New York's kids, especially in lower-income areas of the city. But with more charter schools opening and the average Catholic high school tuition at $5,500, one former charter school principal told the Post, "If you're a middle-income family, you can pony up five grand a year for your kids to go to a Catholic school that's decent. Or, if you can find a charter school that's actually pretty good, then why not take a freebie?" more ›