There will be more students enrolled in classes at Pella Christian Grade School and High School in the upcoming academic year.

Head of Schools Dan Zylstra estimates that nearly 330 K-12th grade children will likely have qualified for new Education Savings Accounts for 2023-24 once enrollment is certified in October — that includes any family with income under the 300% poverty line, new kindergarten enrollees, and those who left a public school system to attend P.C. Zylstra says based on counts before school begins, they are approximately 60 students up in terms of enrollment between their two facilities — and there are also still families who have applied for ESAs that have not yet been admitted.

“We have seen in enrollment increase,” he says. “Depending on how you slice it and our budgeted numbers, we are up 60-plus students, and as far as where those students are coming from, some of those are from public schools who have transferred in, we have quite a few homeschool families that have come, which we appreciate — their mission aligned and they are going to fit in very well here at Pella Christian.

Then we’ve had a surprising number of families that have moved in here to the area — some from out as state as far as Idaho and Michigan and some from other areas in Iowa and they’ve taken advantage of that ESA. We haven’t seen as much of a draw here locally from Pella public.”

In 2022-23, there were 410 children attending Pella Christian Grade School and 262 at Pella Christian High School, according to the Iowa Department of Education. Based on those numbers combined with the anticipated enrollment increase, somewhere between 40-45% of those attending P.C. this year will do so with the new state-funded scholarships. For the Pella Community School District, if the vast majority or all of those students receiving ESAs are living within the public school’s district borders, they could receive $350,000 to $400,000 in new funding in the next fiscal year, based on a state formula that provides approximately 15% of per pupil aid — or nearly $1,200 each, to public schools per student attending an accredited private institution.

As of the latest from the Iowa Department of Education, the number of eligible students that successfully applied for Education Savings Accounts includes 297 in Marion County, 197 in Warren County, 188 in Mahaska County, 144 in Jasper County, and 55 in Poweshiek. While many of those are Pella Christian students, others could go to Sully Christian, Peoria Christian, Oskaloosa Christian, or any other accredited private school.