The demographic and economic decline beginning in the 1950s with the end of the coal mining industry has left its mark on education. At one time, the City of Carbondale had one public high school, ten public elementary schools, one private Catholic high school, and two private Catholic elementary schools which served a city of just over 23,000 citizens. Over the decades, changes to education, the dramatic population decline down to 8,800 in the 2010 Census, and the disappearance of religious orders have reduced the number of schools to the two mentioned above. Sacred Heart Elementary, formed as a result of the merger between the parochial Mt. Carmel and St. Rose Elementary Schools for the 1998–1999 school year, closed at the end of the 2010–2011 school year and integrated into LaSalle Academy Catholic School in Dickson City. From a peak enrollment in the 1960s of nearly 650 in a K-12 system served in three schools, the school's enrollment has declined to 186.