President Obama has announced the creation of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, a new office that will work with agencies and local groups to help black students prepare for high school, college, and life after graduation. The President is signing an executive order to form the office today, but he introduced the initiative last night during a speech to the National Urban League.

A McKinsey report released just yesterday shows that the racial achievement gap in this country has cost us hundreds of billions of dollars. To close this gap, money will also be part of the solution.

“First, as emphasized in the report, inequities in teacher quality and school funding are pervasive — particularly in communities where there is the most need.  In essence, the challenged schools get more of the bad teachers and have, on average, less money than the schools which are attended by more affluent kids,” writes Kevin Chavous, an attorney and school reform leader, on The Huffington Post.

The executive order is also meant to help President Obama with his re-election efforts. A report from the National Urban League shows that the President could lose in three key states – Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio — if black voters stay home. A recent Gallup Poll shows President Obama has overwhelming support from black voters. Mitt Romney, not so much.