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Private schools see enrollment swell

Middletown Christian sets enrollment records in a down economy.

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10:51 PM Tuesday, December 27, 2011

By Denise Wilson

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown Christian Schools is experiencing explosive growth with 530 students at the school and one strong reason is the state-supported voucher program.

“Back in 2006, we were in the 460s,” said Middletown Christian Schools Guidance Counselor Karen Long, who oversees admission. “Of course, the economy kind of had a downturn, which was a negative, but then we had the EdChoice (state voucher program), which was a positive, so they’ve kind of balanced each other out in many ways.”

Long said this year’s enrollment numbers are the largest in Middletown Christian Schools’ history.

“That’s our biggest jump in one year,” she said. The number of Middletown Christian students using EdChoice Scholarships is up also. Long said last year the school had 70 EdChoice students. This year they have 130.

Educational Choice Scholarships, which began in 2006, expands school options for parents in Ohio, according to the School Choice Ohio website — www.scohio.org. The scholarship allows children who attend the state’s lowest rated public schools to attend private schools with publicly funded scholarships.

This school year, the number of EdChoice Scholarships available to Ohio students expanded from 14,000 to 30,000. Next school year, the state plans to expand the number of scholarships even further offering 60,000 EdChoice scholarships, said Patrick Gallaway, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education. The scholarship limits are $4,250 (or less for the price of tuition) for K-8 students and $5,000 for grades 9-12.

Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich, said the current administration supports school choice. “We want to give parents as many options as possible and believe that private schools are an integral part of that,” he said.

Cincinnati Christian Schools on Morris Road in Fairfield Twp. has experienced a steady increase in its enrollment since 1996-97 when it was at its lowest enrollment of 285 students in grades pre-school through 12. Today they have 680 students. Last year, 645 students were enrolled in the school, said Mark Phair, a spokesman for the school.

The biggest growth has been at the elementary level where 27 kindergarten students were enrolled last year compared to 49 this year, Phair said.

“Kindergarten and ninth grade seem to be a trending point,” he said.

EdChoice scholarships only account for about 2 percent of Cincinnati Christian Schools students or 17 total, said Phair.

Despite rising tuition costs, area parents are still enrolling their kids in private schools. During the past five years, Cincinnati Christian Schools has averaged a 4 to 5 percent annual tuition increase, Phair said. Tuition for students in full-day kindergarten through sixth grade is $6,300. Tuition for one student in grades seven through 12 is $7,440.

Bishop Fenwick High School was one of only three schools in the entire Archdiocese of Cincinnati, which spans both Dayton and Cincinnati metropolitan areas, that experienced enrollment growth over the past 10-year period, said Robin Blank, marketing and communications coordinator at Fenwick. St. Xavier High School and Ursuline Academy in Hamilton County were the other schools.

She said she believes Fenwick is experiencing growth for a number of reasons.

The school is accessible to communities like Springboro, Waynesville, Lebanon, West Chester Twp. and Mason, and parents are deciding to move their children from public to private schools.

“We’ve seen a lot of new faces coming from public schools,” Blank said. Failing school levies at area public school districts also cause parents to reevaluate their kids’ schools.

“We have seen an influx of students coming from larger districts,” she said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 483-5219 or dewilson@coxohio.com.

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