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Private vs. public: School choices keep expanding
By MELISSA MERLI
News-Gazette Staff Writer
In recent years a growing number of individuals, churches
and groups have opened private schools. Some don't even get off the
ground while others might close a year or two later.
But many see quick enrollment increases.
Take the nondenominational Living Word Christian School
in Roberts in Ford County. It opened in 1998 with 65 children and now has
122 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. Canaan Academy, in
Urbana, another church-affiliated school opened with 24 students in 1997
and now has 80. The school plans to add another grade each year, up to 12th.
Countryside started with 12 students eight years ago and
now has 131 in kindergarten through eighth grade. It might expand to accommodate
a waiting list.
Still another private school, the High School of St. Thomas
More, will open in August, starting with a freshman and a sophomore class.
It plans eventually to have 400 students and perhaps as many as 600.
Why the interest in private schools? What kind of effects
will their continued growth have on public schools? Why would parents want
to pay to send their children to a private or independent school?
Patrick Bassett, president of the Independent Schools
Association of the Central States in Downers Grove, said most people have
a sense that private schools thrive because they operate free of political
bureaucracies and government regulations.
"As a result, you get public innovations like charters and vouchers that are trying to re-create public schools into private schools," he said.
Another effect is that public schools are "customizing education" by adopting programs successful in private and independent schools, things like hands-on education and project-based learning.
Champaign schools Superintendent Mike Cain said he thinks competition from private schools will actually help public schools. "I think it will be healthy and good and make us sure that we're doing the best we can," he said. "If we're not into providing quality, then people will seek other options."
Cain and Urbana schools Superintendent Gene Amberg don't seem too worried about losing students to private schools, particularly the High School of St. Thomas More, which will be the first Catholic high school in Champaign and will draw from the region.
"It will have some impact," Cain said, "but it's too early to tell what degree of impact that will be."
Cain said many of his schools, particularly Centennial High School, are overcrowded anyway. Champaign projects 500 more elementary students in the next few years. Amberg might have been worried a few years ago, when enrollment was declining in Urbana. But last fall it was up by more than 50 students, many at the high school.
"The only thing we're concerned about," Amberg said, "is the creaming off of families who have been very involved in public schools to private schools."
Even Ted Mittler, principal of St. Thomas More, doesn't think the new school will cause a flight from public schools.
"It might slow their growth," he said, "but from what I hear about the demographics here and projections for growth in the county, I would think they would welcome us because we would siphon some of that off."
Mittler and Bassett said one reason for private schools' success is their small size. Recent studies show the smaller the school, the more likely its students will succeed, they said. Cathie Webber, head of Countryside, said its small size results in an extended-family or community feel, which helps students.
And because they are smaller and not subject to government regulations, private schools have more flexibility. "As we see a need for courses," Mittler said, "it's a lot easier for us to put them in or pull them out if they're no longer useful."
St. Thomas More, for example, will offer Latin, Greek and Hebrew as part of its Bible and theology courses. Countryside teaches Latin to fourth- and fifth-graders and French and Spanish from kindergarten through eighth grade.
Most public schools have dropped Latin and Greek, and most public elementary schools do not offer a foreign language. However, Cain said parents are always welcome to petition public schools to add courses.
Unlike public schools, private schools also can offer religious classes and programs, something many parents find attractive. Mittler said private schools also don't have to worry about peripheral issues.
"We basically listen to students and parents," he said. "Public schools have special-interest groups, federal courts, etc. Everybody thinks public schools are their little bailiwick to control and complain to."
Private schools generally don't have as many discipline problems, either, because they can impose stricter conduct and dress codes. Public schools have stepped up their discipline programs in recent years and a few even ask students to follow dress codes.
"There are a lot of teachers in public school," said Canaan Academy Principal Stephanie Tatum, "who feel if they had a little more flexibility in that area some of the things they see happening in schools wouldn't be happening."
Mittler said another reason for private schools'
success is that parents pay more attention to their children's education
because they're paying tuition. Public schools, too, are working to
increase parental involvement, and the Urbana school district recently hired
a district-parent liaison with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement.
The News-Gazette welcomes comments from readers on the
issues raised in this article. Please send your comments to: Editor, The
News-Gazette, 15 Main St., P.O. Box 677, Champaign, IL 61824-0677. Send
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