Christian schools report closures, enrollment decline

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado-based organization of Christian schools is reporting that more than 200 schools closed or merged in its last fiscal year.

As of June 30, 186 schools had closed and 16 had merged, according to the Association of Christian Schools International. That’s up from an average of 150 school closures that the association has reported in previous years.

Janet Stump, a spokeswoman for the group, said the U.S. economic crisis is also affecting the number of students who attend the Protestant schools affiliated with the association.

There are now 689,000 students attending its 3,781 schools nationwide, a decrease of 4.5 percent from the previous fiscal year.

Schools in the Western part of the country have been hardest hit, with 50 closing and two merging in California and Hawaii in the last fiscal year. Another 38 closed in the Northeast. In the Southeast, 26 closed and four merged.