More Illinois Catholic schools close; candidates call for change

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – As Illinois Republican candidates for governor call for school choice, more Catholic schools are closing in the Chicago area.

After two Catholic schools in Chicago announced recently they would close at the end of the school year, the archdiocese said a total of four schools would close in the city plus two more in the suburbs.

The announced closures of Our Lady of Humility in Beach Park, St. Hubert in Hoffman Estates, Sts. Bruno and Richard in Chicago, and St. Francis Borgia in Chicago follow the previously announced closures of St. Jerome and St. Stanislaus Kostka.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Heidner called for school choice vouchers when he spoke at a forum in East Dundee last week.

“In the private sector, for $15,000, you’re going to get your child educated incredibly,” Heidner said.

2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey said private schools have the ability to accelerate students.

“And our public schools should be doing the same thing, but they won’t because of you know why,” Bailey said.

Bailey gestured to indicate that money was the reason.

Illinois public schools spend more than $20,000 per student in taxpayer funds.

The American Legislative Exchange Council dropped Illinois from 38th to 44th in its recently-released Index of State Education Freedom. ALEC gave Illinois an overall D grade, with failing marks in student-centered funding programs and open enrollment.

Former Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski noted that top-ranked Florida does not allow children to enter fourth grade if they can’t read in third grade.

“Raise the standards, make them the highest in the country, not lower the standards. We’re not going to kid around and pretend our kids can read. Let’s get obsessed about that,” Dabrowski said.

Last August, the Illinois State Board of Education lowered the state’s proficiency benchmarks in reading and math.

Dabrowski said just 2% of Black third graders in Decatur can read at grade level, the same as four years ago.

DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick said thousands of people in his jail have obtained high school equivalency and more over the last seven years.

“So I can take somebody illiterate, get them through high school, college, job training in two years. What are they doing in our school system for 12 years?” Mendrick asked.

Mendrick said he would push for school choice and homeschooling.

Pastors at St. Stanislaus Kostka and St. Jerome said government scholarships taken from Catholic schools were a factor in their schools’ pending closures.

Lawmakers allowed Illinois’ Invest in Kids scholarship tax credit program to expire Dec. 31, 2023.

St. Matthews in Glendale Heights closed in 2024, with Diocese of Joliet Bishop Ronald Hicks citing “a large annual deficit and substantial loss of funds due to the sunset of the Illinois Tax Credit Scholarship.”

Other Catholic school closings around the state in 2024 included Notre Dame Academy in Belleville, Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy in East Moline, St. Ann Catholic School in Nashville, St. Odilo in Berwyn and Aquin High School in Freeport.

According to the National Catholic Education Association’s 2024-25 report, there were 5,852 Catholic schools in the country last school year, down from 6,841 in 2011-2012.

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