Christian Schools Benefit From Growing School Choice Programs
Scholarships are expanding access while raising questions about independence.
Christian K-12 schools across the country are benefiting from government-funded scholarship and voucher programs.
North Carolina is a clear example. The state’s program, established in 2013 for low-income families, was expanded in 2023, raising its income eligibility requirements and removing the previous rule that recipients must have already attended public school.
Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton / Unsplash+
During the 2026-27 school year, a family of four with an income of $61,000 or less is eligible for the full voucher of about $8,000 per child. A family of four with an income of $122,100 or less can receive up to 90% of the voucher value. Families at any income level can potentially receive a $3,600 scholarship per child, about 45% of the full voucher value.
During the 2025-26 school year, 106,000 students received a total of $589 million through North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship program, according to Christianity Today.
Metrolina Christian Academy in Indian Trail has benefited from the program, receiving the second-highest total of scholarship funds among private schools in the state — $5.8 million in 2025-26.
Kacey Chambers, Metrolina’s head of school, said the scholarship program has enabled about 250 more students to attend the school and has allowed it to invest in facilities and programs such as a new special education building, a track-and-field program and smart whiteboards.
“The vast majority of that money is money that was [previously] coming from families’ pockets—now it’s just coming from a different area,” Chambers said. But he also acknowledged that more students means more resources to invest back in the school’s facilities.
About 85% of the students at Wake Christian Academy in Raleigh are Opportunity Scholarship recipients, according to its head of school, Mike Woods. Most, however, were already attending the school.
Access to MinistryWatch content is free. However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. To make a donation, click here.
However, the scholarship program allowed Bethesda Christian Academy in Durham to welcome a wave of new students, said its head of school, Alex Grey, in comments to Christianity Today.
Grey estimated that half of his students couldn’t afford the school’s tuition without the scholarship funding. He often has to encourage lower-income families to apply for the scholarships because they assume there won’t be any money left for them, and he worries about what will happen to those families if the program ends.
Cary Christian School has chosen not to participate in the Opportunity Scholarship program, forgoing an estimated $2 million in funding.
“We love the fact that we’re free to operate as a Christian classical school and to follow our own mission,” headmaster Robbie Hinton told Christianity Today. “Of course, whoever pays for things gets to dictate how you do things.”
“We had [members of our community] push back and say there seems to be no expectations at this point, but we feel like there will be,” Hinton said. “Then you get dependent on [the funding], and it would be hard to turn it down in the future.”
Hinton’s comments reflect a broader debate over scholarship and voucher programs, which now exist in about 26 states — and that number is growing, according to School Choice USA. In 2025, five states — Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and Wyoming — enacted new programs, WestEd reported.
Some critics of scholarship and voucher programs warn that they may eventually come with “strings” that influence what a school teaches.
The Association of Christian Schools International “unequivocally supports freedom of choice in education—freedom for parents to choose schooling for their children that is grounded in objective truth and orthodox Christian belief that teaches the intrinsic worth and dignity of every person, regardless of their background.”
In January, the group launched its “Faith Teaches” campaign to reaffirm its “longstanding commitment to parental choice in education.”
The Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS) takes a more cautious approach, warning its member schools about accepting government funds through voucher or scholarship programs. While it held a “no voucher” stance in the early 2000s, ACCS now strongly encourages schools to avoid government funding and requires a documented exit plan for its accredited schools.
The Home School Legal Defense Association maintains its opposition to government funding for homeschooling, arguing that “government money brings government control.” In some states, such as Texas, homeschools are treated as private schools under the law.
Not all state scholarship or voucher programs cover homeschooling expenses, but at least nine states have programs that do. Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account funding, for example, can be used for “private school tuition, for curriculum, home education, tutoring and more.”
Metrolina’s leadership understands why some schools reject the scholarship money and says it would do the same if it believed accepting the money would interfere with how the school operates as a Christian institution.
However, Chambers sees the scholarship money as “a blessing and a gift from the Lord” that has allowed the school to expand and offer the Pathways Program, a special education program that most Christian private schools can’t afford to provide.
“We want to see as many students in Christian education as possible,” Chambers said. “We think it’s a much better product, because it has eternity related to it.”
MinistryWatch currently has 223 K-12 Christian schools in its database. For more information about the schools and their ratings, visit the database here.
MAIN PHOTO:
TO OUR READERS: The mission of MinistryWatch is to help Christian donors become more faithful stewards of the resources God has entrusted to them. Do you know of a story that will help us fulfill our mission, or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? If so, please email us at [email protected].
