Abstract
The purpose of this report is to illustrate that is the federal faith based Initiative good public policy? I am a proponent of this issue that yes this has turned out to be a good policy and has been presented in the favor of President Bush.
Introduction
Ever since both presidential candidates in 2000, Albert Gore and George W. Bush, embraced charitable choice legislation and pledged to place faith-based initiatives at the center of their administration's efforts to overcome poverty, the role of religion in public life has enjoyed unusually frequent and intense public discussion. Whether at elite academic centers, top Washington think tanks, or the front and editorial pages of our leading newspapers, religion's role in solving America's social problems has been a central topic of widespread, vigorous debate in the last several years.
One of President Bush's first actions after taking office in January 2001 was to issue an Executive Order that established the White House Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives to expand opportunities for faith-based and other community organizations and to strengthen their capacity to better meet social needs in America's communities. A concurrent Executive Order created Executive Department Centers for Faith Based Community Initiative in several agencies, including the Department of Education.
In January 2002, as re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the President signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB or the Act). The education reform legislation includes provisions that further the President's goals of expanding the role of faithbased community organizations by allowing faith-based groups to apply for grants to provide programs and supplementary services to children who qualify based on their income level and their attendance at schools that do not meet the Act's accountability requirements.......
