Why Christian Schools?

Christian Schools are under unrelenting pressure to keep tuition costs as low as possible to enable as many parents as possible to be able to afford a Christian-based education for their children.  Public schools are free, of course, to the parents.  Government funding for public schools averaged $12,401 per student nationwide on 2014.  In contrast, tuition in religious schools averaged $7,790   Publics school teacher salaries and other compensation averaged $56,400.  Religious school teachers averaged $44,130*.  

In our canvass of Catholic Schools in the Houston area, most schools expressed an interest in having a chess program, but none have money in their austere budgets to provide any funds.  We’re sure the same situation applies in other religious schools, too.  The situation is especially acute in religious schools that serve low-income neighborhoods, like the Third Ward.  Parents make very significant sacrifices to send their children to religious schools.  Tuition at St. Peter the Apostle School is means-tested according to family income.  It can be as low as $3,000 a year.  Raising tuition and costs means that fewer parents will be able to have their children attend St. Peter’s.  In a low income neighborhood, like the Third Ward, charging a separate activity fee to have students participate in an activity is insufficient to meet the costs of a vigorous chess program, and discriminates against those students whose parents cannot afford the fee.  CICSF is founded on the idea that private philanthropy can provide the funds that are needed for chess without impacting the school’s budget or costs to parents.

* An insightful essay on why teachers are willing to work for less in private (largely religious) schools can be found at: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/why-are-private-school-teachers-paid-less-than-public-school-teachers/280829/