Nearly 7,000 private schools receive boost in state funding, agree to 'tolerance pact'
Faith groups in England and the British Ministry of Education released a joint statement September 10 outlining the role of the country’s faith schools in promoting understanding among students of all faiths. Under the so-called “tolerance pact,” nearly 7,000 private religious schools are expected to receive additional state funding to open more schools in return for their renewed efforts to promote “shared values of tolerance and diversity,” the statement said.
The agreement is seen largely as a symbolic gesture following a squabble between faith and government ministers last year over admission policies at a Catholic school. The school, explains Keith Davidson, Education director for the Adventist Church in England, was accused of skewing admission policies toward students of one religious background at the exclusion of others.
Davidson says the religious segregation claim led to an effort by some officials to require faith schools to reserve at least 25 percent of their desks for students of other faiths, if not dismantle such schools altogether. The legislation fell through, largely because faith schools in England are well regarded, even by those in the non-faith sector, Davidson says.
He says private religious schools consistently perform better than the country’s public schools and because the taxes parents pay cover education at both public and faith schools, many choose the latter.
Davidson explains that faith schools in England began as places where underprivileged children received a solid education. Last week’s statement affirms that legacy and endorses the role faith schools can now play in fighting religious divisions.
Faith groups operate one-third of England’s some 21,000 schools. The majority are run by the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. The state also supports 37 Jewish, seven Muslim, two Sikh, one Greek Orthodox and one Seventh-day Adventist school—the John Loughborough Adventist School, a secondary school in London.
Negotiations are underway to acquire similar funding for eight Adventist primary schools and another Adventist secondary school in the country, Davidson says. Once state funding is secured, the schools will receive the standard £3,000 (nearly $6,000) annually for each student, making enrollment key to the financial stability of faith schools, he says.
While some Adventists in England fear the government might one day unduly influence the faith schools it funds, Davidson says there’s little to worry about. He explains that if a faith school in England wishes to maintain state funding, it must offer a unique educational experience. “There wouldn’t be a point otherwise,” Davidson says, “There has to be some distinct reason for operating the school. Adventist educational philosophy is that reason.”
He says the state has fully funded John Loughborough since 1988 and that school administration there maintains “complete autonomy” over the school’s curriculum, management, admission and hiring policies.
Garland C. Dulan, director of the world church’s Education department, says accepting state funding concerns him only if “a school steers away from its mission” as a result. Perhaps more worrisome, he says, is when Adventist schools appoint government officials to sit on their school boards, thinking they owe such individuals in exchange for funding.
“We have to ask ourselves, ‘How far down this road can we go before we begin to compromise what makes our schools Adventist?’” Dulan says.
Davidson is adamant that Adventist schools in England “would never sacrifice their principles for any degree of funding.” Instead, he believes state funding gives Adventist schools a valuable means of outreach to the community—students who are not Adventist make up 40 percent of enrollment at Adventist schools in England. If the Adventist church school system in the country relied only on funding from the church and donations from members, he says it couldn’t sustain current enrollment.