The St. Louis diocese currently has the seventh largest enrollment numbers in the nation. There were 48,820 area students registered in the 2007-08 school year. This is in the face of a nationwide steady enrollment decline and 212 Catholic school closings.
The resistance to Catholic schools is disappointing in the face of growing research on the benefits of private education. Overall, private schools proved to outperform their public counterparts using significantly less money per-pupil on average ($4,689 vs. $8,032 in 1999-2000). For example, Catholic private schools specifically have 97% of students go onto college. Public schools only have 34% of students who leave high school even statistically-determined qualified with the skills necessary to attend college in 2002.
Organizations such as the Today and Tomorrow Education Foundation understand the importance of helping students in failing public schools. TTEF has specifically teamed up with the archdioceses of St. Louis to grant scholarships to needy families.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-04-09-catholic-schools_N.htm
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