After eight years of hearing about the unique education offered at a local Christian school, Shannon and John Stewart finally received scholarship funding enabling them to enroll their children.

“I really hope and pray that it will give them a really deep foundation, and really deep roots for their faith, and that over time they will be able to testify to all of the things that they’ve been learning about and hearing about,” Shannon said. “So that when they graduate one day they will be independent adults that are reliant on the gospel and that have a foundation of understanding and have a desire, and they know how important God’s word is, so that they will live out their faith well.”

The dream

Faith Christian Academy is the first Christian, classical and collaborative school accredited by the Association of Classical Christian Schools with a reputation as one of the four best private schools in Kansas City.

In 2018, John and Shannon Stewart began attending Faith Community Church, the church that established FCA in 2003. The couple befriended many FCA families and admired the educational approach, where students attend campus Monday, Wednesday and Friday and learn from home Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“It’s like a dream,” Shannon said, adding she loved the idea of remaining involved with her children’s education and still receiving support from like-minded Christians.

For years, the Stewarts alternated between homeschooling and public school. They knew the FCA tuition was unattainable at the time, but they never stopped praying for a miracle.

That miracle presented itself last fall when FCA’s chief financial officer, Peter Freund, told the family about a state scholarship program called MOScholars.

The scholarship

MOScholars is intended to provide scholarships for working class families and students with an individualized education program (IEP), Missouri State Rep. Josh Hurlbert explained to Heartlander News in an interview.

The program awards more than 3,800 scholarships annually to students under various circumstances, including those who receive an IEP within the past 36 months, meet a certain income threshold, are transferring from a public school into kindergarten or first grade, or are a sibling of a current student on scholarship.

The $6,900 private school scholarship or $2,500 homeschool scholarship helps families pay for tuition, educational therapies, technology, tutoring and transportation.

The program is funded by tax-credit based donations from individuals and businesses, as well as from an allocation from Missouri’s General Assembly.

Hurlbert, who also is a scholarship coordinator for the Herzog Foundation, points out that the donation enables a person or business to direct up to half their tax liability to scholarships – effectively taking it out of the hands of state lawmakers.

“It’s just whether it’s going to Jefferson City for [the Legislature] to spend down there, or to go and remain within your school community on these scholarships. So it’s an easy deal to sell,” Hurlbert said “It’s just getting that communication and convincing people to actually write the check to support these scholarships.”

Hurlbert believes families became more interested in educational alternatives after seeing inside classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. He cited safety concerns as the main reason for a large exodus from public schools.

Kristi Miller, the Herzog Foundation’s development associate and former FCA teacher, works closely with potential program donors to spread the word about MOScholars.

“We partner with [Missouri families] because we want to be able to provide that access to any family that would like to have an alternative education,” Miller explained.

Miller encouraged donors to contribute during the summer, so more students can receive scholarships before the school year begins.

The program has grown from 600 awards to 3,800 in 13 months. Today 1,100 students are on a waitlist until more funding is available.

Miller shared the story of a family at FCA who had to withdraw from the school because of financial circumstances. She told the parents about MOScholars, and they received funding and returned to FCA the following year.

“This is the family that I have in mind when I’m thinking about how to raise funds for this program.”

The worthy challenge

Programs such as MOScholars still pose a significant challenge for administrators at private schools because families have to enroll before they receive funds, according to Freund.

“Families are having to make a decision by rolling the dice and not knowing whether or not they have MOScholars or not,” Freund told Heartlander News. “Obviously, the way the programs worked in the last few years, folks who’ve gotten in have a lot more confidence and reliability that they’re going to continue to be funded by it.”

Still, enrollment at FCA, especially among kindergarten and first-grade families, has significantly increased, Freund said, citing MOScholars as a key factor in this growth.

“I woke up and realized I really had one job, and that was to teach my boys the truth. I think there’s a lot of families that are seeing that and recognizing classical Christian education – particularly with your involvement as a parent, the hybrid model that we use – is a perfect pathway toward that,” explained Freund, who is also a parent of an FCA student and graduate.

The night before receiving their email from the program, Rachel Shipers’ daughter Demi said she hoped she could sing and learn about Jesus every day until she graduated. In response, her mother suggested they say a prayer. The next morning, the family had been awarded a scholarship.

Ecstatic, Demi woke her younger brother to tell him the news.

“She even promised him she would come home each day and share everything she learned about Jesus at school,” Shipers said. “I reminded her that this is exactly what we are called to do. The more we learn about Him, the more we are meant to share Him with others. As Matthew 28:19-20 teaches, this is the Great Commission.”