As a nonprofit Catholic school management organization, we do not know yet what impact the executive order eliminating the federal Department of Education will have on the students in our schools or the communities we serve.

Here’s what we do know so far: 

1. Many Catholic schools—including ours—benefit from federal funding currently administered through the Department of Education. We hope that changes in the systems and staff who administer those funds will not negatively impact the tutoring and other services our students and schools receive, this year worth around $800,000 for our four schools (not including the federally subsidized breakfast and lunch each of our students eats every day, a program run through the Department of Agriculture). 

2. A healthy school choice ecosystem benefits from great public schools. The Partnership advocates for Catholic schools; we believe in their unique power, and we work to ensure that all families who want an excellent Catholic education have access to it. But school choice is not a zero-sum game—indeed, it relies on families having multiple strong choices. 

We’ve seen first-hand how Catholic schools can benefit when there is a high-performing public or public charter school nearby.  The competition can create positive pressure for a Catholic school to get even better academically—and children at both schools benefit. 

Additionally, when families have good school options, then they choose Catholic schools not just because they are an alternative, but because they are a Catholic alternative—and the culture of faith and values in our schools gets a boost. 

3. If eliminating the federal Department of Education causes services to diminish in public schools in poor neighborhoods like those we serve, there is a chance more families will seek out Catholic schools if they remain open nearby. Yet we and other Catholic schools must then step up to serve an even greater variety of needs than we already do—and will need to rely on our supporters, our teams, and our faith as we do.

4. As people of God, we want all children to flourish—not just those we serve. Indeed, we believe our salvation depends on what we do “to the least of My brethren,” as Jesus says in Matthew 25:40. The programs of the federal Department of Education have been particularly aimed at filling gaps in state and local services to students with precisely the kinds of needs Christ calls us to look out for. The department may be changing; the moral imperative to meet the needs of those it serves cannot change.

With lots of attention aimed at what is ending and being taken apart in our country, we pray for renewed attention to what we can build together—including an educational ecosystem where families have multiple great choices, and where we as voters, donors, and educators dedicate ourselves to making equality of opportunity a reality in the lives of all students, children who, Catholics believe, are made in God’s image—whether they attend Catholic schools or not.