Taxpayer-Funded Tuition Is Helping Classical Christian Schools Expand
A growing number of states are letting families use public money to pay for private school, and one group of religious schools is using that funding to fuel an ambitious expansion.
The Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS) wants to create or convert 5,000 classical Christian schools serving 1.5 million students within the next decade, The Associated Press reported. Taxpayer-funded scholarship and savings-account programs are helping make that goal possible.
"It sounds like a very ambitious goal, but this money has never been there before," ACCS President David Goodwin said, according to Fortune.
How the Programs Work
Over the past six years, Republican-led legislatures in many states have passed programs that let families use state money for private school tuition and other expenses. About half of U.S. school-age children are now eligible to apply.
Texas is the latest big example. This summer, the state began rolling out $1 billion in Texas Education Freedom Accounts, known as TEFA. Eligible students can receive at least $10,474. The program gives priority to low-income students and students with disabilities, with income limits reaching $165,000 for a family of four.
A new federal tax credit will also send money to private schools.
Christian Schools See a Boost
Many of the schools benefiting are religious. In Texas, more than 360 of Coram Deo Academy's 2,000 students were approved for TEFA, which could bring the school about $3.5 million, or nearly 17% of its budget.
At Covenant Christian Academy in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, at least 78 students qualified. Tuition there runs around $20,000 a year. Keith Castello, who spent 20 years as Covenant's headmaster and helped grow it from 275 to more than 600 students, is now launching three new schools. One of them opened in a church this fall with just six students.
The leader of St. Clement Orthodox Christian Academy said the school likely could not have opened this year without TEFA.
Classical Christian schools focus on a liberal arts education with an emphasis on virtue and a biblical worldview. Students study Latin by fifth grade, read classic "great books" and complete a senior thesis. Author C.S. Lewis is a major influence.
A Fast-Growing Movement
ACCS, founded in 1994 by Idaho pastor Doug Wilson, now has about 500 member schools, up nearly 200 since 2019. Last year, it formed a coalition with Turning Point Education and the Heritage Foundation for a campaign it calls the "Battle for the American School."
The name is a nod to the 2022 book "Battle for the American Mind," which Goodwin co-wrote with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth's children have attended ACCS schools.
Castello said he is "not against the public schools," though he calls them "secular humanist schools" and says the line between public and private education is blurring. That debate has played out in other ways, too, from a Texas vote to require Bible study in schools to Trump's promise to bring prayer back to public schools.
Critics Raise Concerns
Not everyone is on board. Critics say the programs pull money away from public schools, since funding follows students who leave. Tulane University economist Douglas Harris noted that Democrats and rural Republicans long opposed the programs over fears they would hurt rural public schools.
Others worry about mixing church and state. Rachel Laser of Americans United for Separation of Church and State argues that making taxpayers fund schools that discriminate against their faith violates religious freedom.
Wilson himself has drawn criticism for past remarks, including suggesting that homosexuality be criminalized. Some parents in the San Diego area pulled their children from a school seeking ACCS membership over his influence. ACCS says it does not share Wilson's more fringe beliefs, though he still advises its board.
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