The sustainability of private schools is today a crucial challenge for the Italian education system. In a context marked by falling birth rates, growing management complexities and insufficient public resources, many realities risk closure, with direct effects on educational pluralism and the cohesion of local communities.
The most recent data confirm a critical trend: in the last twenty-five years, private schools have lost more than 36% of students and more than 1,500 school locations. These are institutions that, although recognized by law as an integral part of the Public Education Service, continue to operate with a strong imbalance between real costs and contributions received. The gap with respect to the Average Student Cost set annually by the Ministry remains significant, and families often incur fees that cover only part of the economic needs.
In this scenario, ALTIS Università Cattolica renews its commitment to training figures capable of combining educational vision and management skills. The executive course "Sustainable management of private schools: management models, accounting aspects and people management", whose scientific coordination is entrusted to Sister Anna Monia Alfieri, offers fundamental managerial tools to face daily challenges: from reading financial statements to strategic planning, from organizing resources to dialogue with institutions.
Strengthening internal skills, however, is not enough. As Sister Anna Monia Alfieri reminds us, adequate public policies are also needed, capable of truly guaranteeing the right to freedom of educational choice enshrined in the Constitution. Measures such as school vouchers, regional vouchers and - in perspective - the introduction of the standard cost of sustainability are indispensable tools to ensure fairness and continuity of service, especially for the most fragile families.
ALTIS has been supporting this debate for years, contributing data, analysis and training courses that promote a new managerial culture and a system vision. Private schools perform a valuable public function: preserving them means investing in educational quality, in the freedom of families and in the vitality of the territories.
Through its academic and training work, ALTIS Università Cattolica continues to be at the side of managers and operators, accompanying them in the construction of sustainable management models oriented towards the common good. A shared responsibility that concerns not only individual schools, but the entire country.