The Iowa Department of Education announced that 18,893 Students First Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) were approved by the program’s close day on September 30th. Locally, Marion County had 300 student ESA applications approved, while Warren County had 199. Pella Christian Head of Schools Dan Zylstra said that they had 330 students that qualified for the ESAs.

“We were surprised at the number of students that qualified and we’re very happy for those families who can afford Christian education now more easily because of that. That obviously has allowed some families to come here that may not have enrolled previously. So enrollment overall, we’re up 60 at the grade school to 475 and then up ten at the high school for an enrollment of 277. And many of those students were coming here already, but with some of the financial numbers, that was a pretty big sacrifice for those families to make and now ESAs have made that more affordable.”

Official school enrollment will be confirmed through the state’s certified enrollment process, which schools are required to report by Sunday. Details about ESA program participants will be available after those numbers are finalized in December.