As a CPA, a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and someone who has spent a lifetime helping organizations understand the true cost of decisions, I view Catholic schools through a practical lens \u2014 they are among our Commonwealth\u2019s best investments, one of its greatest bargains, and a magnificent gift to taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania\u2019s Catholic elementary, middle, and high schools do far more than serve Catholic families. They provide a substantial public benefit to every taxpayer in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n
More than 140,000 students attend Catholic schools across Pennsylvania. A significant number are not Catholic. Based on national enrollment patterns, roughly 27,000 to 31,000 students come from non-Catholic families who choose these schools because of their academic quality, safety, discipline, values, and sense of community.<\/p>\n
That matters because every child educated in a Catholic school is a child whose full educational cost is not borne by local school districts, property taxpayers, or the Pennsylvania Department of Education.<\/p>\n
Parents who choose Catholic schools still pay the same taxes that support public education. They then voluntarily pay tuition and other educational expenses to educate their own children. In effect, these families pay twice.<\/p>\n
Dioceses and parishes also willingly support Catholic schools in the spirit of love, mutual respect and charity towards all of our students and families.\u00a0 A significant part of the cost of education comes from donations at church to help cover the total cost to educate.<\/p>\n
The public receives the benefit.<\/p>\n
If Pennsylvania\u2019s 140,000 Catholic school students were educated in public schools, the additional annual cost could reasonably exceed $3 billion. Using current per-pupil spending estimates, Catholic schools provide an annual public benefit valued at approximately $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion.<\/p>\n
That is not a small number. It is a budget-crushing number. The Independent Fiscal Office has repeatedly warned about Pennsylvania\u2019s structural budget challenges. Adding billions of dollars in new educational costs to state and local governments would place enormous additional pressure on taxpayers and public finances.<\/p>\n
Because Pennsylvania relies heavily on local funding for public education, much of that cost would fall directly on school districts and property taxpayers. Catholic schools are estimated to save local taxpayers roughly $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion annually. The state-level impact could exceed $1.1 billion each year, before considering additional costs for facilities, transportation, staffing, pensions, and special education services.<\/p>\n
No estimate is perfect, and not every cost would appear immediately. But the direction is unmistakable. If Catholic schools become financially unsustainable, Pennsylvania would not simply lose a faith-based education option. State and local governments would inherit a massive new financial obligation.<\/p>\n
The consequences would be felt throughout the Commonwealth: crowded classrooms, increased staffing demands, greater facility needs, higher transportation costs, and growing pressure on already strained school budgets. Ultimately, much of that burden would reach local property taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Good public policy recognizes existing assets and builds upon them. Pennsylvania has spent generations developing a diverse educational ecosystem that includes public schools, charter schools, career and technical education, cyber schools, private schools, and Catholic schools. The goal should not be protecting systems. The goal should be to help every child succeed.<\/p>\n
This is why the debate over Catholic schools and scholarship programs should not be reduced to a discussion about private education. Catholic schools are an important part of Pennsylvania\u2019s educational infrastructure. They strengthen families, serve urban and rural communities, and graduate students who become workers, taxpayers, volunteers, military service members, business owners, teachers, healthcare professionals, clergy, and public servants.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania needs strong public schools. It also needs strong Catholic schools. These are not competing missions. They are complementary educational assets serving the same objective: preparing children for productive and meaningful lives.<\/p>\n
When families choose Catholic education, they are not abandoning their responsibility to the Commonwealth. They are helping shoulder one of the government\u2019s most important responsibilities while paying for much of it themselves.<\/p>\n
Catholic schools are not merely a religious asset. They are an educational asset, an economic asset, and a community asset.<\/p>\n
As a CPA, I see the numbers. As a former legislator, I understand the budget implications. As a citizen, I see lives being changed.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania\u2019s educational system should serve children and families first. Catholic schools do exactly that.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania should recognize its value, strengthen its future, and treat them as the public asset they have proven themselves to be.<\/p>\n
Frank Ryan is a CPA, retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel, former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and former Chairman of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees\u2019 Retirement System (PSERS).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a CPA, a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and someone who has spent a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[227,139,1559,1560,28,30,29,199],"class_list":["post-227320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-education","tag-news","tag-opinion","tag-opinion-columnists","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-top-stories-mlt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}