Catholic schools get their groove back as enrolment surges

WATERLOO REGION — Local Catholic schools are filling up again after classrooms emptied while enrolment plunged for almost a decade.

Partly this is because education trustees have eased admission restrictions, letting elementary schools teach almost 1,000 non-Catholic students.

Also, the falling share of students choosing Catholic schools seems to have stabilized. Almost 26 per cent of students currently choose a Catholic education, down from almost 29 per cent in 2005.

After falling for nine years, enrolment has increased for four consecutive years, recovering most of the 2,953 students who left Catholic schools between 2005 and 2014. This has brought millions in government funding back to the board, which has hired more teachers.

“We’re very pleased to see enrolment increasing, and we’ve spent some time examining the factors,” said John

Shewchuk, spokesperson for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.

The Catholic board struggled through lean times while enrolment plunged 13 per cent between 2005 and 2014. Classrooms emptied, the board lost millions in provincial funding, and trustees warned teachers to brace for pink slips.

Public schools did not share this experience, seeing enrolment grow almost two per cent between 2005 and 2014. The Waterloo Region District School Board is still growing, to almost 63,000 students.

Catholic enrolment for the current school year is forecast at 22,088 students, 415 more than expected. Enrolment is up 12 per cent since bottoming out at 19,718 students in 2014.

With the four-year surge, the Catholic board is almost back to the enrolment it had in 2008. It draws one out of four local students who attend government-funded schools, with three out of four students attending public schools.

The province, which typically provides more than $11,000 to educate each local student, has restored millions in funding. In December trustees were told the board had hired 24 more teachers and 43 other assistants and educators.

Though funded by taxpayers, Catholic elementary schools are restricted to students of Catholic faith unless special approval is granted. Ontario allows this, citing historic and constitutional reasons. Catholic high schools are open to all faiths.

When enrolment plunged, local Catholic schools loosened elementary restrictions, empowering principals to admit non-Catholics on a case-by-case basis. Currently 970 non-Catholic students are enrolled. They account for roughly one out of every 16 elementary students.

“Our policy is not open access,” said Wendy Price, chair of the Catholic board. She does not see relaxed admission as a threat to the board’s religious mission.

“Parents are choosing to send their children to the Catholic system knowing that it is a faith-based education and knowing that their children will be part of this environment,” she said.

Shewchuk said “there is no question the tweaks to our elementary admission policy” helped to boost enrolment.

Other factors he cites include a greater effort to make Catholic immigrants aware of Catholic schools, strong student achievement, and the board’s fledgling French immersion program.

“You put it all together and the end result is a very attractive package that people in Waterloo Region are embracing in ever-increasing numbers,” Shewchuk said.