Louisiana Christian school’s closure underscores need to strengthen school choice programs

A Louisiana Christian school’s closure after 45 years in operation offers a warning to schools and policymakers to ensure that expanding and improving in-demand school choice programs is done well.

Hosanna Christian Academy in Baton Rouge announced it will close its doors after significant financial losses, citing enrollment declines and inconsistent state scholarship funding.

“As a result of harmful changes made in the State Legislature and some scholarship programs over the past two years, our school has incurred large financial losses which cannot be sustained,” Hosanna Christian Academy (HCA) Executive Director Russell Marino said in a statement published on the school’s website June 11.

Louisiana replaced its previous school choice program with LA GATOR in 2024, with hopes of expanding the number of scholarships and participating schools, according to Ed Choice.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and House Republicans strongly support GATOR, but the state Senate, which Republicans also control, has blocked increased funding, opting instead for a gradual roll-out of the new program.

That meant that out of more than 36,000 approved applicants in 2025, only about 5,500 families in the state received actual funding – roughly 15% of approved applicants, according to Ed Choice.

Last year, nearly 40,000 families applied. This year, applications dropped by more than half to about 17,000. Ed Choice attributed the decline in applications to the discrepancy of families who were approved for scholarship and the percentage who ultimately received funding.

“When a family applies, is approved and still doesn’t receive funding trust erodes, and that erosion showed up directly in application numbers this year,” the organization wrote. 

HCA opened in 1978 as a preschool and kindergarten before expanding into a K-12 school. The first senior class graduated in 1992. It closed its high school in 2014, however, because leaders said they lacked the resources to support students with aspirations other than college.

“With less than 100 students in high school our economy of scale does not allow us to offer our students what we feel that they need in a way of exotic electives and extracurricular activities,” Josh LeSage, the school’s headmaster at the time, said.

Now, the remaining lower grades will close July 31, with no plans to reopen. As of the 2025-26 school year, HCA educated 500 students and employed 60 faculty members.

Decreasing enrollment numbers also influenced the school’s decision to close.

“Going from kinder to first, we only had one scholarship student, and the rest were on us. And we had gone for literally 60 kids total in kindergarten to 32 children advancing to the first grade,” Marino recently told WAFB-TV.

HCA enrolled significantly fewer scholarship students during the 2025-26 school year than in previous years, resulting in a $440,000 revenue loss. Marino detailed the financial impact in a statement to WAFB-TV.

In a more recent report, Marino elaborated that projected losses could double to $880,000 if the school remained open.

“The state scholarship program is broken and desperately needs to be fixed by our legislators and our Governor in our humble opinion!” Marino said.

Marino said The Lord’s Sanctuary Church, which is associated with the school, will continue operating after HCA closes.