For decades, Catholic schools have done a tremendous job of educating poor and minority kids — yet the church continues to close them left and right. But tonight Rev. Tim Scully is winning an award for his work in making Catholic schools a viable option for more kids.
Timothy Cardinal Dolan tells me, “Fr. Timothy Scully — and the work that he has done in founding the Alliance for Catholic Education — is one of the reasons why I believe Catholic education has a bright future in this country.”
The reason so many Catholic schools can’t survive is simple: In 1920, 92 percent of their staffs were members of religious orders; today, it’s 4 percent. Having to pay laypeople enough to live on (and even enough to support a family on) means vastly higher labor costs — and schools closing even though poor families are in greater need than ever of a decent alternative to failing public schools.
That reality didn’t escape the folks at Notre Dame, who 20 years ago began to notice that, for all the many students joining Teach for America and going into other forms “service” after graduation, almost none were going to Catholic schools.
Rev. Tim Scully, a professor of political science at Notre Dame, decided to launch a pilot program. “We looked around,” Fr. Scully tells me, and thought, “Where is the future talent pool?” He and his “Fighting Irish” colleagues decided they needed to “flood the zone.”
At the first informational session, 250 students showed up; they had to move to a larger room.
Two decades later, the Alliance for Catholic Education, or ACE, has trained over 1,200 Catholic schoolteachers and more than 200 Catholic school leaders. Its competitive admissions program draws from a variety of Catholic colleges. It has sent students to underserved schools all over the country, and also launched international initiatives in Chile, Haiti and Ireland.
ACE has recruited, formed and supported talented teachers and principals in 75 dioceses now. Its long-term goal is to help transform the Catholic school system to ensure every child has the chance to enjoy the life-long benefits of attaining a high quality education.
In honor of its 20th anniversary, ACE’s leaders decided to forgo a big gala dinner and instead take a bus tour around the country. The “Fighting for Our Children’s Future” bus is visiting Catholic schools in 40 different cities this year, bringing attention to the issue of Catholic education.
When I spoke with Fr. Scully recently, the bus was just leaving All Saints — a majority-black elementary school in a poor Richmond, Va., neighborhood. Its record is stunning: All the kids who finish All Saints complete high school, and 95 percent go on to college.
Fr. Scully tells me about visiting a fourth-grade teacher there, who stayed on after completing her two-year ACE commitment two years ago. He called her a “powerhouse” who left him amazed “at the way she managed those children.”
The ACE bus pulled into New York City a couple of days ago. The program doesn’t send teachers here because the local Catholic schools are largely able to staff themselves, but many ACE alumni have ended up in the Big Apple. Some work in charter or Catholic schools; others are involved in a campaign to raise awareness of the importance of Catholic schools in the Latino community.
Tonight, the Manhattan Institute is recognizing Fr. Scully with the William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship for founding and leading ACE; the award comes with a $100,000 check.
As Howard Husock, vice president of the Manhattan Institute, tells me, Scully “has brought top-notch new college graduates into teaching — and many have gone on to significant careers both in the Catholic school hierarchy and in charter school networks.
“All done, as per the fundamental premise of our social-entrepreneurship awards, outside government.” Indeed, only 5 percent of ACE’s budget comes from public sources.
And, as Cardinal Dolan says, “Those of us who cherish Catholic schools, especially the parents and students who look to Catholic schools as their only hope for a spiritually based, first-rate education, owe a tremendous debt to Fr. Tim Scully.”