The US Roman Catholic Church in New York (the Diocese) is going to change the rules of how it relates to the schools under its purview. Once upon a time, local parishes had the responsibility to finance their schools. And the Diocese would help with some cash. If the school closed, the parish would get the proceeds if it sold.
Now, the Diocese plans to fold all the schools under the Diocese and in exchange, "pass the plate" and have all good catholics pay for the schools -- following selective closing to winnow the total number.
My question: is this best governance? Reduce the number and share the cost -- this is good governing. But what about mission? Yes, a lot of the catholic schools don't really serve catholics anymore and that was one of the points of these schools. On the other hand, these schools are supposed to enable folks to have a quality education where one might have been less possible.
Strikes me though that in the reduction of the number of schools, neither of these goals is achieved but a third goal is introduced and achievable -- getting the Diocese off the hook and saving money.
See the NY Times for more detail about the plan.