Private School Enrollment Down, Tuition up. Public School Enrollment Down....

We always hear that public schools are more expensive than private, and that states can save lots of money instituting charter and voucher systems, all while improving competition.

But the reality of the private sector now reveals to us the dirty little truth. Privatizing education will only increase public costs per student, which in turn reinforces their argument that private schools can do the same job cheaper, while deconstructing our current public system.

The private school reality, if applied to public schools, will increase costs substantially. For example:

Lima, Ohio: Few schools in the region have seen enrollment growth in the past 10 years, and the majority of the schools with the greatest drop are private; a trend officials said is happening around the country. “Catholic schools are struggling nationwide. It is a continual problem,” said the Rev. Stephen Blum, of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. St. Gerard Catholic School struggled the most (with a drop of) 48.7 percent, followed by Van Wert’s St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic School at 44.8 percent.

Temple Christian School Superintendent Ken Grunden sees a lack of commitment, some because of finances, to private education. The school has dropped 32.7 percent in 10 years. “Maybe they think they can get the same services at a public school,” he said. “Maybe they offer more sports, more interventions, a greater variety of services.”

Simply put, public education has the ability to offer a broader variety of services to students via taxpayer support and buying power, while private schools are limited to the prevailing interests in private funding. But that’s the bigger point;

The economy has without a doubt affected private schools. St. Charles and Lima Central Catholic, which saw an 18.3 percent decline, must raise tuition about every year, Blum said. “If we get more students in, that would help lower the cost across the board, but every year our student population decreases, then our cost go up,” he said.

Bottom Line: In the private sector, lower student populations mean rising tuition costs. Wouldn’t that be true for public schools? And since it would be true, wouldn’t those rising costs help privatization advocates complain that public educations costs are too much?

Lima City Schools enrollment is down 25.8 percent from 10 years ago. The district loses students to community schools and online schools, and to private schools through vouchers.