.....is the main focus of these two recent write-ups.
First, Diane Ravitch suggests in a New York Daily News story that while Caroline Kennedy won't be serving in the U.S. Senate, she may very well have a vital role to play in saving New York City's Catholic schools, "which are in the throes of a fiscal meltdown." Ravitch writes that Kennedy attended a Catholic school herself, "cares deeply about children" and "is knowledgeable about education." Even more, Ravtich continues, Kennedy helped raise nearly $240 million for the city's public schools--an amount that, if applied to the Catholic schools, would mean none of them would be forced to close. The need is clear, Ravitch writes, as many desperate students, parents and teachers wait for parish school closings scheduled for June.
The second write-up is a DC Examiner piece that looks at recent national stats on Catholic schools. ??Specifically, it discusses a recent report by the White House Domestic Policy Council, which found that urban faith-based schooling options have declined some 20 percent in 20 years. And....it also quotes our own Mike Petrilli!