BE OUR GUEST

Sister Jeanne Goessling is principal of St. Mary Catholic School in Cape Girardeau.

Recently on a teleconference broadcast here in Cape Girardeau, Charles McClain, commissioner of higher education, said the $385 million tax-and-reform measure provides incentives for improving education at all levels. He added that he doesn't know of any entity that has been "starved into excellence." I beg to differ with that comment.

The Catholic School System exists today because of the early struggle, and at times, near starvation of religious women and men who came from Europe to educate early immigrants in this country. Religious people came with little more than the dress on their back and their belief in the mission to educate the spirit and intellect of students in this new land. They were inspired by a call to teach all nations.

Parents were most grateful for the opportunity to have religious educators from their homelands in their church communities with the conviction and ability to teach their children. Parents know that their children's futures depended on the education that they could provide and sacrifice their time, talent, and financial support to make the schools possible. Parents gave up the "finer things in life" for their children while being taxed to educate other citizens. Parents made the choice and rallied to do what it took to bring academic and social success to their children and country.

Today, over 150 years after the meager beginnings of these schools, these Catholic Schools continue in their mission of educating the entire person in a valued-centered environment. Parents continue to choose to give up some First Amendment rights in regards to the education of their children. They believe that the permissiveness that those rights inspire do not benefit their children or the entire society. They choose to support Gospel values.

Nationally, 110,000 Catholic schools exist with a student ratio of 24-1 in the elementary and middle school as compared to 28-1 in the public school. Ninety-nine percent of Catholic school students graduate on time as compared to 38 percent in public schools. Nationwide, the average cost per student is $7,107 as compared to $1,735 in parochial schools. Inner city Catholic schools are filled with non-Catholic students who succeed at a greater rate than their equal counterparts in public schools. The average teacher's salary in Catholic Schools is $22,550 as compared to $39,136 in the public system. The administration in the Catholic School System is minimal in number compared to its counterpart. The parochial schools are about the mission and not controlled by a bureaucracy and political strings. Parochial schools educate over 1,000 students in Cape Girardeau.

As I look at educational reform, the components of good schools are the hallmark of the parochial schools. Local ownership and control by boards made up of parents of those who attend is the norm. Shoestring budgets are put together by the boards who are in direct contact with the individual schools. Principals and teachers make the educational decisions for a local school to meet the individual needs of the students. The system doesn't dictate the curriculum, the students' needs do. Basics are taught. The parent, the best educator of children, choose the kind of education they wish for their children.

The major flaw is that the system cannot afford to pay its teachers justly. Teachers choose to teach in such schools because of the same mission of the early religious men and women who starved and sacrificed while the system excelled. Today's parochial teachers sacrifice financially. They are vested in the schools and believe in them. They and their families deserve to be fed.

Our current Secretary of Education, Lamar Alexander, has recently stated, "If we try to fix whole states or fix whole systems, we'll fail. You have to fix whole schools and let groups of those schools become a system." Catholic schools across the nation are indeed whole. The system has proven itself excellent while it is starving. The pain of starvation bands good and capable parents together to feed their children's needs. Catholic Schools continue to accomplish their mission because of parents' belief in the system. Why can't financial assistance be available through educational grants/vouchers on the elementary and secondary level, so that parents are free to choose to send their children to a school that works? Is the nation helping to starve a good system out of existence by refusing to give each parent a real choice? Are we perpetuating an educational monopoly instead of allowing the free market principle to operate and challenge all schools to excellence?

Will Proposition B fix the educational opportunities for some students in Missouri or just mend them? Can voters afford to starve out the parochial/private schools that are working?