(Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent this week by Fr. Daniel O’Connor, Archdiocesan Secretary for Education, to all pastors, principals and chairmen of parish boards of education to clarify the authority of the Archdiocesan Board in closing schools.)

I have been disturbed recently by several reports of Parish Boards of Education or Parish Financial Committees talking about closing their parish schools. In at least one circumstance where this has happened, the result has been confusion and rumors among the parishioners, causing some parents to withdraw their children from the school, and a subsequent loss of badly needed income.

The purpose of this letter is to emphasize the fact that the decision to close a parish school is not a decision made by a parish board of education or financial committee. By its constitution, only the Archdiocesan Board of Education can recommend to the archbishop that a parish school be closed. Article A under the Appendix of the Board’s constitution reads as follows:

Establishment and Discontinuance of Schools

No school of any grade, elementary, secondary, parish, inter-parochial or archdiocesan shall be established or expanded without the permission or initiative of the Board of Education. Existing schools of whatever grade shall not be dissolved or discontinued nor shall any part (for example, an elementary school, kindergarten or grade or a secondary program of studies) be discontinued without the express and explicit permission of the School Board of Education. Any major changes in the operation or organization of a school of whatever level must be referred to the Archdiocesan Board of Education for approval, including patterns of dual enrollment, shared facilities, etc.

The reasoning behind this article is that the school is not only a parish institution, it is also an archdiocesan institution. A school is not built by one priest or one congregation; it is built and sustained by many pastors and many generations of Catholics. Moreover, our schools today usually serve more than one parish. This will be even more the case in the future as new parishes are built on the perimeter of the City of Atlanta, with only facilities for religious education.

No one denies that the financial strain on a parish that has a parochial school is very great. The continuance of each of our schools will demand the most careful administration.

The purpose behind the Notre Dame study now being undertaken by the Department of Catholic Education is to assist parish boards of education and financial committees in accurately estimating the cost of their schools and then to help them find means of financing them.

The members of the Archdiocesan Board of Education are realistic enough in their outlook to realize that it is not impossible that a parish might find itself unable to continue to support its school. But we wish to emphasize that such has not been the case so far in the archdiocese. Schools have closed without exception for reasons other than their cost.

A recent study of the school system in St. Louis by the research department of the University of Notre Dame verifies this fact. According to the study, no school in St. Louis has been closed because parents have been unable to meet increased tuition costs.

Parishes with schools will have serious decisions to make concerning the amount of parish subsidy and the rate of tuition. These decisions should be made by Parish Boards of Education and their financial committees.

Our own Notre Dame study will be of assistance to any parish board in making these decisions. It will also enable parishes to compare their operations with the operation of other parish schools and consequently be able to judge whether or not their expenses are too high or their support too low.

These decisions should be made openly, with all members of the parish kept informed. Our experience here in the archdiocese has been that whenever a school is threatened with discontinuance, parishioners have redoubled their efforts to keep their school open. The Department of Catholic Education is able to give professional advice and assistance to boards if they would let us know of their problems.

We also feel that in some of our parishes the financial aspects alone are being given consideration, and even these only from the viewpoint of operating expenses.

We think that some boards are overestimating what the saving to the parish would be if they had no school, nor are they able to say with any accuracy what new program would benefit the parish to a similar extent. The values of the school, especially the intangible ones, are overlooked.

Well over 6,000 children of the archdiocese, over a 10th of your total number, are receiving not only an excellent education in secular subjects, which is our contribution to society, but a solid religious formation, which is preparing them for a future, fruitful membership in the Church.

The parish school’s role as a catalyst for the parish is important. As no other institution can, it brings the people of the parish together and generates enthusiasm, dedication and incentive to real sacrifice.

In their concern to solve their financial problems, parish boards of education and financial committees sometimes fail to recognize the school’s great contribution to the parish as a whole.

Another attitude we find disturbing is a tendency on the part of some to look upon the financial responsibility of the school as belonging only to the parents whose children are enrolled in it.

The cost of education can and should no more be assumed by the parents of school children in a parish, than should public education be carried only by the parents of school age children. Education is a whole society’s responsibility; it is also the responsibility of the entire parish.

The exact subsidy a parish should give a school is naturally difficult to ascertain, but parishes must make every effort to keep their schools from becoming private schools attached to the church, supported only by a few, and considered of real value only to those who use it.

This week we return to the research department of Notre Dame the questionnaires that all of us have filled out in our study of the finances of our schools and schools of religion. We anticipate the study to be complete and available to pastors and parish boards of education by the first of the year.

We are confident that it will be of great assistance to all who are making the difficult financial decisions required today, and we urge all parishes to refrain from making final decisions regarding tuition and parish subsidy until the study is available. In the meantime we would like to reemphasize the fact that the closing of a school is not a parish but an archdiocesan decision.