Northeast Ohio Advocates for Catholic Schools

  It is   National School Choice Week , and parents nationwide are celebrating a movement that’s gained incredible momentum in recent years. However, the cause for state support of parental school choice is nearly as old as tax-funded schools themselves, including a pioneering history here in Ohio where policy and advocacy raged 170 years ago, with Catholic schools at the fore.   This fascinating history is full of lessons still applicable today. The year was 1853, and with the Diocese of Cleveland having been carved out of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati just six years prior, the Arch still held jurisdiction over most of Ohio's population and land. The Most Reverend John B. Purcell, Archbishop of Cincinnati, became a strong champion and articulate advocate for a plan that would allow Catholic schools to receive a share of state funds for education. Catholics were still very much a minority, and anti-Catholic sentiment was strong in Ohio and throughout our young nation. As ...