White House Report on the Crisis in Faith-Based Urban Schools

Inner-city faith-based schools have helped educate generations of low-income American students.  Yet, between the 1999–2000 and 2005–06 school years, this Nation lost nearly 1,200 of these faith-based schools, and those remaining had nearly 425,000 fewer students.

To help address this growing crisis, the White House recently released a report, “Preserving a Critical National Asset: America’s Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-Based Urban Schools.” The report follows up on the White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools, where President Bush convened educators, policymakers, community leaders, and others to develop potential strategies for preserving these valuable educational institutions.

The White House report chronicles the historical role of faith-based schools in America—particularly their role in educating low-income and urban populations—explains the causes of their rapid disappearance, and, most importantly, offers recommendations for reversing this dangerous trend.  The White House believes that state and local governments, philanthropists, higher education institutions, educational entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders who take up these recommendations can help keep the doors of inner-city faith-based schools open to America’s disadvantaged students.