For the fifth year in a row, student enrollment in Arkansas parochial schools is up from last year, continuing a trend.
“We’re up to a 4.31 percent increase,” superintendent Theresa Hall told Arkansas Catholic Oct. 31. “We’ve been increasing since 2020-2021. That’s when we really started increasing. Each year it was 2 percent, 2 percent, 2.5 percent, 3 percent, now we’re over 4 percent.”
This year, 7,104 students are enrolled across the state — up 294 from last year’s total of 6,810.
Since the 2023-2024 school year, Educational Freedom Accounts (EFAs) provided financial support through the LEARNS Act for families to attend parochial schools, leading to a boom in enrollment in Northwest and Central Arkansas.
While some of that growth has trickled off in Central Arkansas, it remains consistent in northwest Arkansas.
St. Vincent de Paul School in Rogers and Ozark Catholic Academy in Tontitown hold the top slots for school growth. St. Vincent de Paul School increased enrollment by 30 students, and Ozark Catholic Academy increased enrollment by 8 percent.
OCA communications director Krissa Mentuis told Arkansas Catholic, “This school year, OCA serves 121 students, an 8 percent increase from last year’s 113, and a nearly 46 percent increase since 2022, when enrollment stood at 83. Our freshman class has reached full capacity with a waiting list, and other grade levels are quickly approaching the same.”
The school recently signed a 100-year land lease in Tontitown to relocate from rented space at St. Joseph Church.
Eastern and northeastern Arkansas schools have also seen growth. St. Michael School in West Memphis and St. Paul School in Pocahontas enrolled more students. Last year, St. Michael School only went up to third grade. This year, the school added a fourth grade, with plans to expand to fifth grade next year.
A growth in parochial elementary and middle school students underscores the need to prepare Catholic high schools, such as OCA, for a potential influx of students.
Jamie Groat, director of communications and marketing for Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock, said enrollment has increased over the past few years.
“If you looked at our enrollment in August 2024, we were right at 500. This year, we have 536 students, so that is about a 7 percent increase,” Groat said.
She said Eden Coker, director of enrollment, has been gathering feedback from parents about why they’re choosing Catholic education.
“A large part of our growth comes from the growth the parochial schools are seeing at the lower levels,” Groat said. “We hear from families that they are searching for a specific environment — one with greater teacher and student interactions, where safety is a priority, and I think families are seeing that the parochial schools are meeting those characteristics that they are seeking for their daughters.”
Some schools in Central Arkansas, while not seeing a large enrollment surge this year, are at or near capacity. One of those schools is Our Lady of the Holy Souls School in Little Rock.
“Our school did not see significant enrollment growth this year because we were already operating near capacity,” Holy Souls principal Amber Bagby said. “We are grateful that the state funding opportunity has allowed several parish families to join or remain at our school. Our hope is that the long-term impact will allow us to sustain a vibrant, faith-filled community that is accessible to more families. I can see this strengthening our parish and supporting Catholic education for future generations.”
The Catholic Schools Office is working hard to ensure that schools don’t just enroll new students but also retain them.
“Anytime I’m going to visit a school, I check how many students were in kindergarten last year and how many are in first grade this year. How many were in first grade last year and went on to second grade this year? Just to compare to see if we are retaining,” Hall said.
“What we used to see is sometimes after second grade, after they’ve received the sacrament of First Communion, they might leave,” Hall said. “But I’m not seeing that now.”
In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, studies showed that while parochial school test scores did dip, they still remained higher than their public school counterparts, and the more consistent educational curriculum in parochial schools — in spite of the pandemic — minimized gaps, while also enlisting interventionists to help students from public schools catch up to a parochial school educational curriculum.
All of these factors have convinced many parents in the past five years that Catholic school is the place to send their kids. But several years of increasing growth have the Catholic Schools Office planning even further ahead.
“We have to look at our buildings and see what we can do. Is there a way we can add more classes? Is there a way within our current school buildings to have another class of the same grade?” Hall said. “… There are more challenges as our schools get larger. You have more people. You have more staff, challenges like that.”
Hall is working with educators to try to bridge the gap between parochial schools and the church pews as well.
“We ask all of the schools to look at their baptismal records. Look at how many kids are out there in the pew in church. Is it causing our churches to grow, too?” she said. “… For instance, those new families that come in, are you really reaching out to them and making sure that they understand the culture and our mission? We have to always evangelize.”
