As public school enrollment continues to decline across the country, traditional Christian schools in the blue-chip city of San Francisco are on the rise, according to a new report.
Three religious schools offering students a liberal arts education have opened across the Bay Area in the past five years, according to the San Francisco Standard, which has been documenting the growing trend.
Donum Dei Classical Academy, which offers a Bible-based curriculum for students in grades K-8, may look out of place in the Bernal Heights neighborhood “adorned with rainbow Pride flags,” but its influence is growing, the report said.
The small school reportedly added 25 students since opening in 2019 and donations increased from $45,692 that year to $773,319 in 2023.
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Classical Christian schools are growing in San Francisco. (Reuters)
Donum Dei joins other early Christian schools in the city, including the private Catholic school Nativity High School, which opened this spring with 20 students in Inner Richmond; Saint John of San Francisco Orthodox Academy, a K-8 school with 25 students Richmond opened in 1994 and Stella Maris, a former Catholic school on the same campus as Nativity that doubled its student enrollment 86 since we re-established ourselves at the academy in 2021,” the Standard reported.
Parents who want a curriculum that includes “culture, faith, and conservation values” are drawn to these schools, staff told the newspaper.
Marilyn Bridon, an art teacher at Stella Maris, explained how their school can look different from many public schools, saying that “woke” books are regularly checked out of the school library and that “pronouns” are not discussed.
A director and teacher at another old school, Saint Johns of San Francisco Orthodox Academy, explained that parents have expressed that they do not want their children’s education to be “too far to the left.”
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Parents looking for a traditional, faith-based education for their children are increasingly turning to traditional Christian schools in San Francisco, according to a new report. (Stock)
“Many people in our community have said it’s important to them that we’re not too far out there, too far to the left,” Helen Sinelnikoff-Nowak said in the report. “I don’t preach to parents, but I hear them, and that’s what they want.”
The traditional education movement has gained steam as parents seek alternatives to public schools. According to the Association of Classical Christian Schools, there were 502 schools registered in their organization in the US as of 2023.
While many of these schools are opening across the country, public school enrollment has declined in America’s most populous cities, according to a recent report.
Between 2013 and 2022, nationwide enrollment in public schools fell 2% from 49.9 million to 48.8 million, falling to the lowest point in decades, according to a report released in June by the. The Manhattan Institute.
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Fox News’ Kendall Tietz contributed to this report.
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