For the last 60 years, the news about Roman Catholic schools in Connecticut has been mostly bad. Waterbury, once the state’s most Catholic city, had a thriving family of Catholic elementary, middle and high schools. Most have closed. According to the Cardinal Newman Society, which defends and promotes Catholic education, enrollment nationally was 5.6 million in 1964-65 but is now just 1.7 million today – a 70% decline.
There are signs, however, of a reversal of this trend. In Florida, which has a strong school-choice program, Catholic school enrollment has increased 12.1% over the last decade. And in Connecticut, Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne cited improving enrollment levels in announcing plans to open the Catholic Academy of Hartford, in a building near the offices of the Archdiocese of Hartford on Asylum Avenue. It will serve students from pre-kindergarten to second grade initially and will add more grades over time.
“Enrollment in Catholic schools has been rising, with many schools in the Archdiocese of Hartford now having waitlists,” The Sunday Republican reported Oct. 12, paraphrasing comments by Archbishop Coyne. “That growth made this the right time for the archdiocese to make a generational investment in Hartford’s youth through education.
“There are currently 38 Catholic schools under the Archdiocese of Hartford, with two more opening in Hartford and New Britain next year. The Archdiocese of Hartford comprises (more than) 115 parishes in Hartford County, Litchfield County and New Haven County.”
It is no coincidence that as Catholic school enrollment has declined 70% since the mid-1960s, the number of Catholic nuns, many of whom are Catholic school teachers, has declined 72%. This trend has forced the schools to hire teachers and administrators at a sharply higher cost, which is reflected in tuition fees. While some states have compensated for this trend by establishing voucher programs, many, including Connecticut, have succumbed to pressure from teachers unions that claim, falsely, that voucher programs pull funding away from public schools.
“Students in church schools generally do far better than students in public schools,” Connecticut columnist Chris Powell wrote in a column last weekend. “Critics claim that this is because church schools can choose their students, taking the well-parented and motivated while the public schools have to take everyone, particularly the neglected, indifferent, and demoralized. This indeed explains some of the difference in performance but not all. The key distinction is that public schools in Connecticut are far more accepting of poor performance.
Connecticut families hoping to move their children from failing urban public schools to private or parochial schools had reason to hope for deliverance this summer, thanks to a proposal by President Trump’s administration. The Educational Choice for Children Act, part of the Mr. Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” passed by Congress July 4, enables taxpayers who donate up to $1,700 to organizations that award scholarships to private and parochial schools would be eligible for matching federal tax credits. But there’s a catch: state government would have to participate in the program. Otherwise, every dime donated by Connecticut taxpayers would go to children in other states.
Gov. Ned Lamont has not committed to participating in the federal program or ignoring it. Governors, including Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin, have expressed enthusiasm for the program but are awaiting guidance from the federal government on implementation. Hopefully, Gov. Lamont will take advantage of this opportunity to give Connecticut children a wider range of educational choices.
Oct 20, 2025
Republican-American Editorial Board