National, Diocesan Catholic School Enrollments Are Rebounding
PROSPECT HEIGHTS — New data from the National Catholic Educational Association shows enrollment in Catholic schools nationwide is climbing back towards pre-pandemic levels after an enrollment drop in the 2020-2021 school year.
Catholic school enrollment this year is 1,688,417, up almost 4% from the 2020-2021 school year when enrollment was 1,626,291, according to Margaret Kaplow, NCEA vice president of communications.
Kaplow told The Tablet last week that the research arm of the organization is still in the process of compiling the data for this school year. Although, based on the data thus far she anticipates the final enrollment percentage increase will stay above 3.5%. The final data should be available within the next two weeks, she said.
The Diocese of Brooklyn — one of the largest dioceses in the nation in terms of Catholic school enrollment — experienced its own enrollment increase. Total enrollment in the diocese for the 2021-2022 school year is 30,894, according to Ted Havelka, the diocesan director of enrollment management and financial assistance. That figure includes a 2.4% increase in preschool-8th grade enrollment from 19,147 to 19,613, Havelka said.
“That is a testament to the hard work, dedication and caring of the teachers, principles, parish pastors and leaders,” Havelka told The Tablet. “It’s a lot of people doing everything they can for children and putting children’s needs above all else and parents can see that.”
While the nation’s Catholic school enrollment rebound is significant, the numbers haven’t quite reached pre-pandemic levels. In the 2019-2020 school year enrollment was 1,737,297, according to NCEA data.
A deeper dive into the data from this year and last shows the enrollment increase happened despite the loss of 43 schools to either closings or mergers. There are 5,938 Catholic schools operating this year compared to 5,981 last year, according to Kaplow.
The number of elementary schools this year is down to 4,765 from 4,812. However, Catholic elementary school enrollment rose this year to 1,167,917 from 1,103,626, Kaplow added, which makes up a large percentage of the overall enrollment rebound.
The data she provided also shows that the number of secondary schools this year rose to 1,173 from 1,169. However, secondary enrollment dropped nationwide from 522,665 from 520,500, according to Kaplow.
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