School News

Closings began in 2008

Friday, March 12, 2010
Angelique Ruhi-Lopez -

MIAMI — The closing of St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth-St. Joseph schools this June will bring the total school closings in the archdiocese to 10 since the spring of 2008.

For more than 15 years, the Archdiocese of Miami subsidized schools facing financial difficulties, despite steady declines in enrollment. Even with the archdiocese’s annual Archbishop’s Charities and Development (ABCD) appeal, the money collected was not sufficient to sustain subsidized schools and money had to be borrowed to cover the costs.

After a two-year review involving several strategic planning meetings between archdiocesan officials and pastors concerning the financial future of these subsidized schools, Archbishop John C. Favalora met with all pastors in November 2008 informing them that due to the global economic crisis, the archdiocese could no longer provide any subsidies to schools.

The archbishop asked the pastors to meet with their parish and finance councils to decide if their parishes would be able to completely support their schools without receiving archdiocesan subsidies.

In January 2009, it was announced that six of the parish elementary schools in the archdiocese had determined they could not continue operating without subsidies: Corpus Christi and St. Francis Xavier in Miami; Our Lady of Divine Providence in Sweetwater; Sacred Heart in Homestead; St. Clement in Fort Lauderdale; and St. Stephen in Miramar. The pastor of St. Monica in Miami Gardens had reached the same conclusion the year before and the parish school was closed in May 2008. St. Malachy in Tamarac later decided it also did not have enough enrollment to remain open.

The pastors at St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth of Hungary, having explored every possible way to increase enrollment, arrived at the same conclusion this month.

Eight pastors were given permission to rent their school buildings to charter companies for the 2009-2010 school year. Charter schools are government-funded and cannot teach religion, but they are run by private boards, and pay rent to the parishes where they operate — in many cases, making it possible for the parish itself to operate in the black financially.

Currently, Archbishop John C. Favalora has placed a moratorium on opening new charter schools until their effect on parishes and neighboring parish schools is evaluated.

Without St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth-St. Joseph, the archdiocese will have a total of 48 Catholic elementary schools operating next fall, along with 13 secondary schools.