Iowa private schools seeking accreditation so families can get new scholarships

When longtime public school teacher Katie Christiansen sent her oldest son to kindergarten, she began dreaming about an alternative education where students could explore their environments.

About six years later, she opened a non-public school in downtown Iowa City called Tamarack Discovery School, where students spend half the day learning outside the classroom walls in their community and in nature.

Christiansen said when her two boys were enrolled in the Iowa City Community School District, they “had the most amazing teachers.” But her sons are “super active.” One needed to be challenged more. The other needed more support in school, she said.

“I wondered if there was a way to find a balance, offer something more,” said Christiansen, who is one of the founders and head of school of Tamarack.

The pandemic furthered her interest in creating an indoor-outdoor learning model, she said. “It was a good time to try something new,” she said. The school opened its doors in fall 2020.

Tamarack is one of 11 non-public schools in the state listed by the Iowa Department of Education as “new” in 2023. While some schools like Tamarack have been open for years — or even decades — they still are listed as “new” because they are pursuing accreditation for the first time, said Heather Doe, spokeswoman for the education department.

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Accreditation gives non-public schools eligibility for the families they serve to apply for education savings accounts, taxpayer-funded financial assistance to attend a private K-12 school. The 2023-24 school year is the first year families have had that option.

While it takes about three years for the accreditation process to be completed, families with students accepted at those schools may be eligible now for the education savings accounts, although there are income requirements until the program is fully phased in.

About 16,700 students across the state used an education savings account — currently worth $7,598 annually — at a private school as of the Oct. 1 certified enrollment date, costing the state an estimated $127.3 million in the first year. here are 36,195 Iowa students enrolled in non-public schools.

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Christiansen said she hopes to someday bring the indoor-outdoor classroom model to public schools to give all students the opportunity to learn this way. But in the meantime, families having access to public funds to attend non-public schools has increased the socioeconomic diversity of students at Tamarack.

“We’re reaching kids who wouldn’t otherwise have this opportunity,” she said.

Tamarack is a prekindergarten to sixth grade school where the teacher-to-student ratio is 1 to 8 or fewer, Christiansen said. There are about 60 students currently enrolled.

At one of Tamarack’s two campuses — on 3 acres of land in North Liberty it was given stewardship of by the owners — students learn to identify trees and birds, track animal prints and learn about stewardship of the earth.

Christiansen sees students building self-esteem, growing physically stronger, working collaboratively and creatively and taking ownership of their own learning, she said.

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More non-public schools listed as ‘new’

Other non-public schools listed as “new” by the state simply changed addresses. Doe said because of that change, the school was assigned a new building number in the state’s system. Building numbers are unique identifier codes the Iowa Department of Education uses to identify school buildings.

Tri-State Christian School, for example, which opened in Dubuque in 2018, completed construction of a second campus in August 2023, triggering the state listing it as “new.”

Jordahl Academy, which moved from the BCLUW Community School District area in Conrad to Norwalk, was also listed as “new” because of the change, Doe said.

Keokuk Christian Academy, which opened 25 years ago in Keokuk, is getting accredited for the first time to be able to offer families who qualify access to education savings accounts, said Kim Kirchner, the schools interim administrator.

“I’ve always been an advocate of open enrollment. I think education savings accounts broadens that by opening up private school choice for parents,” said Kirchner, who was a public school administrator in Iowa for more than 25 years.

Kirchner said the accounts honor “both public education and parental choice” by also providing public schools about $1,200 in return for every child within their district enrolled in private school.

There are 90 students enrolled at Keokuk Christian School — some of which are in Illinois and Missouri, since Keokuk is near the Iowa border. Tuition is about $2,700 a year for families with one child enrolled in the school. Of the 45 students from Iowa, 35 of them are using education savings accounts, Kirchner said.

While the school offers education to prekindergarten through 12th grade, only its kindergarten-to-eighth grade is seeking accreditation. With only six students in the high school, it can’t offer all the classes needed for the high school to qualify for accreditation. The students graduate as if they were home-schooled, Kirchner said.

“Parents choose us because they want their children to have a Biblical Christian education,” Kirchner said. “We offer Bible classes every single day. We pray in our school. We sing worship songs. We also have a very robust academic curriculum.”

Victory Christian Academy in Indianola also has been been open for more than 20 years, but now is accredited for the first time through Christian Schools International. The decision to become accredited was made partly so the school can “stay competitive” with other non-public schools and their families eligible for education savings accounts, said school administrator Sandra Dop.

There are 23 students enrolled in the school, all of whom are using education savings accounts, Dop said. Tuition is $5,450 a year for kindergarten to sixth grade.

One family with three students at Victory Children is saving more than $16,000 a year on tuition now that they have access to education savings Accounts, Dop said.

“We have a unique way of supporting families in their beliefs,” said Dop, who worked for the Iowa Department of Education and was a superintendent of a public school. “We truly want to educate children in a way that helps them filter the world through Biblical teaching.”

Accrediting non-public schools

Non-public schools have two options for accreditation in Iowa: general accreditation by the state through a comprehensive site visit, or independent accreditation through a state-approved independent accrediting agency.

State approved independent accrediting agencies include the Association of Christian Schools International, Christian Schools International, Independent Schools Association of the Central States, the National Lutheran School Accreditation and American Montessori Society, for example.

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