Latest news with #DecaturHeritageChristianAcademy
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CHOOSE Act brings increase in applications to local K-12 religious schools
Apr. 29—Local K-12 religious schools are seeing an influx of new applications due to an Alabama voucher-like program that begins in the 2025-26 school year and is funded with state education dollars. "With the families that we are interviewing for next year, a good number of them are telling us that we just were never an option until this came into play," said Steve Hall, head of schools for Decatur Heritage Christian Academy. The state Legislature passed the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students' Education (CHOOSE) Act in 2024. Qualified families can receive $7,000 per K-12 student enrolled in a private or out-of-district public school or $2,000 per student — up to a $4,000 maximum — for homeschooling programs. For now, eligibility is limited to families with adjusted gross incomes below 300% of the federal poverty level. According to ALDOR, about 75% of Alabama families meet those guidelines. For example, a family of three applying for the 2025-26 school year must make less than $77,460. Starting in the 2027 — 28 school year, those income limits will be eliminated, opening eligibility to all qualifying students regardless of household income. Applications for next school year closed April 7, and families will begin to hear if they've been awarded the credit this week. "We didn't necessarily know what to expect," Hall said. Nearly 37,000 students applied for the program statewide, including 521 Morgan County residents, 696 Limestone residents and 109 Lawrence residents. Decatur Heritage Christian Academy had 137 students list it as their school of choice in their CHOOSE Act application. Lindsay Lane Christian Academy had 244 and St. Ann Catholic School had 30. Most of the applications are from current students, but each school also saw significant growth in applicants. About 20 students not currently enrolled at Decatur Heritage listed it as their school of choice. If each of these students enrolled, it would mark a 5.3% increase of student population from the previous year. Hall said Decatur Heritage could handle this increase without too much trouble. "We do not intend to grow in a fashion that overwhelms us," Hall said. "We're going to measure our growth very intentionally." Kenneth Rolling, principal of Saint Ann Catholic School, sees the CHOOSE Act as an opportunity to recover from a decline in enrollment brought on largely by COVID-19. "I think especially as the program reaches fruition in the next couple years, it will have a significant impact, most especially (because of our) reliance on the parish for so much of our financial aid," Rolling said. St. Ann has 67 current students, many of whom receive financial aid of some sort, such as scholarships or parish member discounts. Rolling said having the CHOOSE Act shift the financial burden from the church to the state and will allow it to provide programming it couldn't previously afford. "One of the limitations that we've always kind of had in the competition for students, so to speak, against the public schools is that they've always had significantly more funding, obviously," Hall said, "and they often have, as a result of that, many programs that we can't afford, whether those be extracurriculars or additional services provided for students who have special learning needs." Critics of the CHOOSE Act are concerned about the damage that it will inflict on public schools. The act was originally funded with $50 million, and another $50 million was added this year, revenue pulled from the Education Trust Fund. A pending House education budget bill would add $80 million from an education reserve fund after a higher-than-expected number of students applied. "We value the importance of parental engagement in shaping their children's educational path," said Tracie Turrentine, superintendent of Morgan County Schools. "The Morgan County School System is committed to being that choice by providing great academic programs, career and technical opportunities, and a thriving athletics program. "However, we are concerned that the CHOOSE Act may redirect critical funding away from our schools." Robby Parker, who previously worked at Bob Jones High School in Madison for 33 years and is now head of schools for Lindsay Lane, has experience in both the public and private realms. "I don't think the CHOOSE Act is a scary thing," Parker said. "I don't see that it will hurt public schools, but I think that it will certainly help people who choose to come to a private school." The 244 CHOOSE Act applicants that listed Lindsay Lane as their choice represent a mix of current students and new applicants. Parker said the school has seen a significant increase in new applicants in the last two months. Lindsay Lane is near full capacity, though, and is even considering adding an additional kindergarten unit to meet the demand. Parker said that as the CHOOSE Act attracts more students to Lindsay Lane, the school will continue to be a Christian school. "We welcome everybody," he said. "We welcome diversity. We want diversity. But we do preach Jesus every day, and we want to share the gospel. ... We want to prepare our students to go anywhere, and be able to share Christ in whatever setting they're in." Hall said the CHOOSE Act aligns with Decatur Heritage's mission as a religious school. "We're a Christian school, and the kingdom of God is made up of people of all different races and ethnicities and socioeconomic positions, so our heart has always been, 'How do we look like our community? How do we bless the fullness of our community?'" Hall said. "And one of the greatest hurdles to doing that has been the financial limitations that some of our families face. (The CHOOSE Act) allows us to actually pursue the mission of our school and what we do more fully, so we're very excited about the opportunity to do that." Contact me at or 256-340-2437.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Four local students named National Merit finalists
Feb. 22—Four area students have been named finalists in the National Merit Scholarship program, meaning they scored in the top 1% nationwide on the PSAT exam. They will find out in March if they win National Merit Scholarships. The students are Dash Dixon, a senior at Austin High School; David Hudry, a senior at Decatur Heritage Christian Academy; Samantha Setzer, a homeschooled senior; and Micah Williams, a 2024 graduate of Decatur High School. Fifteen thousand students nationwide are chosen as finalists and of those, 7,000 will become National Merit scholars. To qualify for the scholarship, the applicants had to take the PSAT exam in October of their junior year. National Merit gives out $2,500 one-time scholarships to about 2,500 National Merit scholars and then colleges, universities and businesses give out scholarships that can vary in amount. They will find out in March whether they are chosen as scholarship recipients. When he was a little boy, Dash Dixon wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up. Today, at 17, his dreams haven't gotten too far afield. He wants to attend either the University of Alabama or the University of Chicago in the fall and study aerospace chemistry. The salutatorian of his graduating class, Dixon is the son of John and Colleen Dixon of Decatur and the brother of Kate Dixon, a 10th grader. He found out he was a finalist via email a day or two before a letter arrived. "I was excited — I had been waiting for months since the semifinals in October or November of last year," he said. His parents were excited, too. He has big dreams. "I want to be a chemical engineer because I fell in love with chemistry and I want to apply it to aerospace," he said. Some of his career goals include making rocket fuel or the coating on spaceships and working for United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin or NASA, he said. — David Hudry David Hudry, 18, a senior at Decatur Heritage Christian Academy and celebrated Eagle Scout, wants to study aerospace and attend one of the military academies. The son of Wayne and Twila Hudry of Decatur, David is the brother of Juliana Hudry, a senior at United States Military Academy West Point in New York. He has been offered positions at three military academies — Army (West Point), U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Naval Academy. He is leaning toward the Naval Academy and he has a need for speed. As a child he wanted to be either an astronaut or a fighter pilot and today he is still interested in three possible career outcomes — spacecraft, planes or Formula One cars, he said. He said God has shown him the way through life by opening and closing various doors. He is leaning toward the Navy because his grandfather served in the Navy. Manning a submarine, flying a plane off a carrier or being a top gun "all sound pretty cool to me," he said. He thanked his parents and sister for their support and guidance through the scholarship process. — Samantha Setzer Samantha Setzer, 17, of Trinity, a homeschooled senior, says she plans to attend the University of Alabama in Huntsville and study business analysis and political science. She thanked her mother for teaching her. "I would not have been able to get the test scores without her," she said, adding she is "really excited" to go to college in the fall. — or 256-340-2361
