National award for Juan Diego CHS principal

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Dr. Galey Colosimo is shown with the Leonard F. DeFiore Parental Choice Advocate Award he received during the National Catholic Educational Association convention earlier this month.

DRAPER — The National Catholic Educational Association presented Dr. Galey Colosimo, Juan Diego Catholic High School principal, with the Leonard F. DeFiore Parental Choice Advocate Award on April 1 at the NCEA 2024 Convention in Pittsburgh, Penn.

The award is given to an individual who has “demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting full and fair parental choice in education,” according to an NCEA press release.

Colosimo was recognized for his work in forming the Utah Private Schools Association, of which he is the director, and for his advocacy on behalf of private schools in the state. The work of Colosimo and other private school and home school advocates led to the passage of legislation in 2023 that set aside $40 million in funding for scholarships for private schools and home-schooled students through the Utah Fits All Scholarship program. In the 2024 legislative session, efforts of the non-profit organization Utah Education Fits All, where Colosimo is chairman of the board, saw the Utah legislature appropriating another $42.5 million to fund scholarships for up to 10,000 of these students.

“His unwavering dedication to championing school choice legislation for Utah families is commendable and proved to be a great success,” Colosimo’s commendation says. “He played a pivotal role in shaping and advancing school choice legislation in Utah where 54 percent of Utah Catholic school students currently receive scholarship assistance.  His advocacy ignited the broader movement toward empowering families, especially those with limited financial means, with the opportunity to choose from a variety of educational opportunities, including Catholic education.”

Colosimo said he was honored by the recognition. “NCEA has been a national group that has guided Catholic schools for the last 100 plus years, and so to do this and cite the Diocese of Salt Lake City was great and to honor me; it was really thrilling to be able to receive the award.”

He said he would not have received the award without the help of Utah Catholic Schools Superintendent Mark Longe, Assistant Schools Superintendent Nikki Ward and Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald.

Msgr. Fitzgerald is the vicar general emeritus of the diocese; his current position is assistant to the bishop.

The work of the Utah Private Schools Association, which was established in 2018, has been critical in ensuring the future of Catholic schools in the state, Colosimo said.

“Private schools were struggling financially in the face of the charter school movement,” he said. “Prior to charter schools, private schools could thrive as the alternative to public schools. When charter schools began, they became the alternative to public schools, and private schools became the alternative to the alternative, and it just really damaged enrollment in private schools, and their budgets and their ability to operate. Many private schools were either out of business or were going out of business. And so I thought, if we came together as an association of larger private schools, maybe we could impact legislation that might help schools – all private schools – financially.”

The association’s first success was the 2019 passage of the Special Needs Opportunity Scholarship, which provides scholarships for students with learning disabilities to attend private schools. “The importance of that was it told us that we actually could be successful, and it helped legislators understand that there was a need,” Colosimo said.

“That was step one, and then step two was a Utah Fits All Scholarship,” he said. “Our goal is to make it so that any parent in Utah that would like a scholarship would get one, meaning that there will be enough money for all parents. Our goal for next year is to get $200 million, so that more and more families of all different socioeconomic backgrounds can get the scholarship.”

Buoyed by these successes, Colosimo is optimistic about the future of Catholic education in Utah.

“Utah Fits All is the lifeline to keep Catholic schools open and to possibly expand more Catholic schools in places in Utah that we never thought would be possible but now it is possible,” he said.

Colosimo received another national award, the Spirit of Digital Learning Award, in February 2023.