More parents skipping public schools, choosing Christian school from start

The growth is real and it’s starting early.

An increasing number of parents are ruling out public school completely and choosing Christian school for their kids from day one.

Northland Christian School in Kansas City, Missouri, is seeing this growth, as its kindergarten class surged 25% this year to 50 students.

The K-12 school expanded to two classes per grade in 2022 and added a third kindergarten class this year. The school keeps growing, even as it adds space.

“We built our growth projections four years ago on 9.5% annual growth, and we’ve been running anywhere from 12 to 14% for the last three years,” says Superintendent Bryan Prewitt. “It’s to the point that we’re essentially out of space.”

Jared and Katy Lungren are part of that upswing. 

Despite buying a home in a “good public school district” shortly after their daughter was born in 2016, Jared began reconsidering public school in 2020 after reading books such as Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker. He also talked to coworkers with kids in public school who convinced him to put their daughters, now 6 and 8, into Christian school. 

“I was hearing stories of the chaos of a world that does not reflect Christ,” he says. “The destruction of marriage; that marriage was no longer considered normal; the complete breakdown of the moral code of how people are treated. A lot of what we would consider God’s rails and God’s design has just been absolutely rejected.” 

Parents, educators and the public school system “does not agree and even wants to be ‘anti’ of the way I want to lead my family,” he says, adding that having another option “I’ve realized is very, very important.” 

Katy was hesitant initially but is now completely onboard. 

“When Jared was like ‘Let’s do private school,’ I was like ‘Really? We’re both public school kids and we turned out pretty good. Why even do that?’” she says. 

“I initially thought, ‘Oh, we’ll send them to private school when they get older, when they’re facing all the teenager struggles.’ But seeing stories and hearing things from our peers who are sending their kids, even at the elementary age, the things the kids are having to deal with,” swayed her. 

Now she’s PTA president at Northland and sees the benefits of the school’s culture. 

“During our first year, they had a special chapel service on the biblical view of dinosaurs,” she says. “I was a really strong Christian who grew up in church, but I had never thought critically about what I’d been taught about evolution and the age of the dinosaurs.  

“It made me think, ‘What do I really believe?’ and ‘How can I look at things differently than what I was taught at a young age and what was ingrained in me from the culture that doesn’t say what the Bible says?’” 

Northland parents Andres and Kaylie Giraldo both grew up attending Chrisitan school and knew they wanted the same for their son, 6, and daughter, 4. 

“We wanted to ensure that our values, our beliefs and a strong Christian education would continue into our next generation,” Andres says of their decision. “They’re at school a big portion of the time so we wanted to make sure what was being taught in school aligned with our belief system so it would make it a lot easier to reinforce.” 

“They’re learning about Jesus at school, and at home and at church,” Kaylie says. “Every facet of their life they’re being poured into, and with the same love and beliefs and values, so it definitely makes a difference.” 

One factor influencing Northland’s boom is a new requirement that preschool parents agree with the school’s declaration of faith, attend church regularly and follow its ethics code, which covers topics such as biblical marriage. Previously, preschool enrollment was “evangelistic,” meaning that parents did not have to agree with the faith statement unless they enrolled their children in kindergarten. 

“We saw our retention from kinder-prep to kindergarten growing and so we made the shift so that we wouldn’t have to turn families away who wanted to continue to kindergarten but no longer met the requirements,” says Brylie Carlson, the school’s admissions director. 

Starting young helps parents secure spots, which can be harder to come by in the upper grades, and spares students from what can be a challenging transition later. It can also be easier financially, Carlson says. 

“It’s a pretty significant shift for kids to step in in the middle of the program, and not only academically but spiritually, relationally, behaviorally, and I think it’s a big shift financially for parents to make then,” she says. “If you start early, you kind of build it into the daycare budget.” 

Opportunities such as the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program (MOScholars), which offers school choice scholarships, can help cover some of the load for families who qualify. 

Both the Giraldos and the Lungrens acknowledge the financial cost of private school but say it’s well worth it. 

“It’s obviously a huge sacrifice,” Kaylie says. “In our case, we’re paying double tuition, whereas we could be sending them to pursue a free education, and that would mean a lot more money in our pocket at the end of the year.” 

When she was growing up, her father delivered pizza on nights and weekends to earn money to send her to a Christian school. She and Andres save money by driving an older car, taking less vacations and not buying a bigger house “so we can invest in what really matters.” 

“I’m a firm believer in setting (kids) up with that foundation,” she says. “We learned recently at a class (at Northland) that most research says a child’s worldview is shaped by the time they’re 13. Our son’s halfway there, so after the next six or seven years, how he views the world is going to stay pretty consistent.” 

Not everyone understands her choice. 

“At work I receive judgments like, ‘Wouldn’t you rather pay for their college tuition?’ and ‘Think of all the money that you’re spending now to put them through elementary to high school,’” she says, adding that the criticism is from “people who don’t share the same worldview as we do.” 

Some parents question whether Christian education shelters children from the “real world” and keeps them from realities they are inevitably going to face. 

Jared Lungren has a simple response: “I want to be able to rear my children, at least when they’re single-digit age, and have that discussion within the home and it not be explained to them differently outside the home. 

“I can talk about sexual sin but we can do it within the context of the patriarchs and the Bible. And I know that the teachers at Northland and those around (my daughters) would answer those questions in the same way, from a biblical foundation.” 

Sid and Chantel Edwards of Bloomington, Illinois, wanted to put their children in Christian school but couldn’t afford it until Foundation Christian Academy opened this year.  

Their son, 8, had been bullied in the public schools and “didn’t want to go to school,” Chantel says. He and his sister, 7, also faced questions about their faith. 

“One day they got off the bus and frantically ran to the car asking me, ‘Is God real?’” Chantel says. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, why would you ask that?’ and they said ‘Such and such said that God’s not real’ and all this stuff. 

“I had to sit there and explain that God is real and that people are going to come to you and say things like that,” she says. “You’ve experienced God in ways they may not have, or maybe their parents don’t believe in God, but you know God is real. You’ve seen prayers answered. You’ve experienced the Holy Spirit. Don’t let anybody take that experience away from you.” 

Her daughter also came home doing yoga poses she had learned from a guest speaker who was teaching about Hindu culture. 

Now her children are thriving at Foundation, where she volunteers and her husband teaches physical education. “My son doesn’t want to leave. He’s sad when it’s Saturday and is excited for Monday. He’s never been this happy and excited about school before.” 

The Edwards have no question where they will send their youngest two children, ages 4 and 3.  

“As Christian parents, we are teaching them one thing at home and if they’re exposed to something else for eight hours a day, they get confused,” Chantel says. “I want my kids to be in an environment where they’re worshipping God and reading the Bible and the staff is Holy Ghost-filled and knows how to pour into them and speak life into them and not speak any negative things over them. 

“We’re super grateful to be in a Christian school now.” 

The Lungrens and the Giraldos agree. 

“I don’t think you can do any better than a private Christian education for your kids,” says Kaylie Giraldo. 

“We feel very blessed that we can unequivocally say, ‘Yes, we are going to send our children to Christian school,’” says Jared Lungren. “It’s important to us that our children know God and to see that displayed through the school as well.”