DN Editorial: Chaput's claims of discrimination are wrong

THE ARCHDIOCESE of Philadelphia's announcement last week that it was closing 49 schools sparked intense emotion. Much of it was from the anguished students, parents and teachers of the parochial system, but certainly much from the community at large. Given the events of the last few years, such public sympathy for the Catholic Church is no small thing. In fact, it seemed we had, for a moment, general public recognition that educating kids was a task we all need to tackle together, whether public or private.

Then, yesterday, in a column on PhillyCatholic.com, Archbishop Charles Chaput uttered the "D" word, potentially undoing some of that general good will.

The "D" word he uttered was not a profanity, but the word "discriminate." Chaput urged parents upset with the blue-ribbon commission's report not to be mad at the Archdiocese, but at public officials and others who "discriminate" against Catholic students by not having public monies support their education.

It harkens to the old argument of the Archdiocese's "saving" taxpayer dollars by educating kids in their own system. (An argument rarely made by childless taxpayers who pay school taxes, or those who never use public services like fire.) Chaput's claim of discrimination adds a fighting edge - albeit an unfair fight.

Catholic parents choose to send their kids to Catholic schools; they are not forbidden to send their kids to public schools. The fact that the public doesn't pay Catholic children for their religious education is no more discriminatory than the public not paying Jewish students to attend Hebrew school, or Muslim kids to go to their madrassa, or Quaker kids to go to Friends' school. And that's the way the Constitution wants it.

But the fact is, the state does support Catholic and nonpublic students in big ways that the archbishop should acknowledge. For one thing, the Philadelphia School District pays the transportation costs for parochial students to get to school. The public also pays for parochial-school nurses and crossing guards.

In fact, the line item in the district's budget for nonpublic school services is $37 million; the bulk of that is transportation costs, of $21 million - and that includes mileage money that parochial-school parents get for driving their kids to school.

Third, the parochial schools' decline in enrollment can be attributed in part to the explosion of the city's charter schools; a report by the district earlier this year suggests that 30 percent of the city's 50,565 charter students (2011-12) come from nonpublic schools. We're betting the bulk of those are students moving from Catholic schools to public schools. The archdiocesan school closings may spike that number higher, and that's worrisome, because the state is adjusting the money it reimburses the district for charter students - to zero.

The archbishop gets a "D" for his remark - for being divisive, damaging, and disingenuous.