Churches Should Embrace New Educational Models

Church involvement in education isn’t new. Before state governments took over education in the 1800s, children were often educated at home, local churches, or both. When public schools were created, they were often infused with Protestant teachings, which led the Catholic church to create a whole system of schools.

With public schools often aligned with the Protestant majority from a values perspective, most parents sent their children there rather than paying tuition on top of property taxes. It didn’t take long for other school models to be largely crowded out.

Recent decades have seen a shift. Many parents and church leaders see a wide gulf between their values and what is taught in public schools, especially when it comes to gender ideology and sex education. The resulting values clashes have helped fuel growth in Christian schools and homeschooling.

But not everyone can afford private school tuition or is prepared to homeschool. Recognizing this, there has been a move to encourage churches to partner with parents and teachers in creating affordable Christian educational options.

Dalena Wallace, a Kansas homeschooling mom and microschool founder, realized that many of her fellow school founders were Christians who felt called to start a school to provide a faith-based education for children. But they often weren’t comfortable asking their church leadership for support. Ms. Wallace had already created a network to help connect innovative education models in her area. However, she wanted to support and encourage church-based learning centers in a specific way, so she launched the Heartland Education Reformation Organization, or HERO.

“I'm targeting the church and asking the church to get on board with this and support those who are out there doing the work,” Ms. Wallace told me recently. There are three ways churches can support Christian education through HERO: host or start a school, sponsor an existing school, or provide scholarships for students in other schools. By forming partnerships between churches and Christian educators, Dalena hopes to make Christian education accessible to more families.

Dalena and HERO aren’t alone in these efforts. There’s a growing movement nationwide to encourage churches to support Christian education. The Massachusetts Family Institute has a church-based learning center initiative that is helping churches create and sustain low-cost educational options.

According to MFI President Michael King, who leads the initiative, students at church-based learning centers are registered homeschoolers, so the parents are the primary educators. The learning centers function as a local church ministry to support parents, typically meeting three to five days per week with volunteer tutors. “We have a goal of getting affordable K12 education in Massachusetts—and when we say affordable, we are looking at $100 to $200 a month per student,” Mr. King explained to me.

The spread of school choice programs that allow some education tax dollars to follow students to options beyond local public schools has helped more families make unconventional choices for their children’s education—which has also contributed to the growth in church-based learning options. For example, in Florida, where a universal education savings account program can be used for a wide variety of educational expenses, the Florida Citizens Alliance has a microschool initiative to encourage churches and parents to create Christian learning options.

Given the deep history of Catholic education in America, it seems like it would be at the forefront of efforts to create church-based learning options. But that very history may be preventing some Catholic churches from embracing these more flexible options. For example, last fall the Diocese of San Diego made a new policy prohibiting homeschool and private school programs from using parish facilities—including empty Catholic schools. Cardinal Robert McElroy, who was then bishop of San Diego but has since been transferred to Washington, D.C., didn’t mince words, saying, “In approaching the question of basing home school cooperatives in parishes, the vibrancy of our Catholic schools takes precedence.”

However, other Catholic leaders recognize the importance of supporting parents regardless of which educational model they use. Fr. Joe Freedy of the Pittsburgh diocese was serving as a pastor when he heard a local Catholic hybrid school needed a new home. He says it was a “no-brainer” to invite them to move into the church’s former school. The way he sees it, “If the end goal is building the Kingdom of God on Earth as the Lord desires, get a school.”