The Post & Courier recently published a letter from Timothy Hayes, president of Cristo Rey Charleston. Cristo Rey is a network of Catholic schools dedicated to serving students with limited economic resources across the country. Hayes was responding to the newspaper's Jan. 22 editorial criticizing school choice initiatives.

While the article reported on various aspects of voucher plans historically across the U.S., Hayes said, it "does not report existing levels of public-school educational quality in South Carolina for students in low-income families, and I recommend that the Post & Courier also report its estimate, if possible, on how many students in low-income families could be eligible for school vouchers under the proposed legislation.
"A voucher system cannot be a panacea to 'fix' public schools but can be one tool to provide an improved opportunity for quality education for students in low-income families to break a pernicious cycle of sub-par academic results and poverty. SC public schools are, by and large, not delivering acceptable results to students in low-income families … Proposals for structural changes to public school districts and administrations would take decades for passage and effect. Families with school age children today don’t have the luxury to wait decades," he wrote. 

Cristo Rey offers students a uniquely rigorous academic curricula with four years of professional work experience. Hayes and Bill Hecht serve as co-chairs of Cristo Rey's start-up effort in North Charleston.
 
Click the link to read the full letter online: https://bit.ly/3XMQC4H.

The South Carolina Catholic Conference thanks Hayes for his advocacy to provide quality education for underprivileged children in South Carolina!