I briefly taught in an inner-city Catholic high school in Philadelphia. Only about 10-15% of our students were Catholic. The reason for attending our school was in many, if not most cases, the relative safety and order of parochial school. These kids’ parents were desperate to get their kids out of the unsafe and ineffective public schools, and this was one way they could do it. Literacy was abysmal, with my freshmen students averaging about a 3rd grade literacy level. Not all kids were average . . . I was trying to teach kids at 1st grade reading levels. I was there for 4 months. In that time, over 10% of my students had been assaulted on the way to school or home. Usually it was public school kids preying on the less thuggish parochial school kids. Our students were tough, street-smart inner city kids, but just not as rough as the others, and they paid for it. This is a horrible environment for raising a family. I never discussed politics with those parents, but I don’t doubt that some of them could be reached with a message of safety and school choice.
It angers me that several cities offer some version of school vouchers while suburban and rural (read: “white”) parents are stuck with the bills - while unable to pay private school tuition. As my diocese contracts, few of the urban schools are left; there was simply no benefit to operating them when there were practically NO Catholic students left.