St. Paul Lutheran School in Bonduel is among 26 schools statewide chosen to benefit from taxpayer funding next school year through Wisconsin’s statewide choice program.
St. James Lutheran School in Shawano fell a few applications short of the cut.
State law mandates that only the 25 private schools and school systems that received the most eligible applications are able to participate in the random drawing for the additional voucher slots. Due to a tie in the number of eligible applications at the 25th spot, there will be 26 private schools and school systems included in the random drawing.
St. Paul had 62 applicants.
Roncalli High School in Manitowoc and Sheboygan Christian School tied at the bottom with 57.
St. James finished just a few shy, with 54 eligible applicants out of 69.
“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited,” said St. Paul Principal Gerald Schmidt, who said the voucher program would help fulfill the school’s mission of making Christian education available to people in Bonduel.
“It’s a great opportunity to make Jesus Christ available to the community in Bonduel and outreaching areas,” he said.
In addition to traditional curriculum, the school emphasizes what Schmidt said was “faith foundation and character development.”
Faith foundation, he said, gives students “an opportunity to develop a personal relationship with God, spiritual growth and active involvement in the Christian community.”
Though some quarters have taken issue with spending tax dollars for religious teaching as a violation of the separation of Church and State, Schmidt said he saw nothing inappropriate.
“If it weren’t for nonpublic schools, the cost of public education would be much higher,” he said.
The school will get 10 vouchers, but the number is flexible. It can include only 1 percent of students from the Bonduel School District, but Schmidt said there are also applicants from the Shawano, Pulaski and Gillett school districts.
Susan Longmire, principal at St. James, said she was disappointed not to make the final cut, though the school was “darn close.”
“We were just under the wire,” she said. “We worked as hard as we could.”
Longmire said there was a “real need in the community” for such religion-based options.
“We’ll try again next year,” she said.
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