When parents enrolled their children in a small private school in Ardmore in the fall of 2023, the tuition was $1,000 per semester.
TheParental Choice Tax Credit Programstarted in December, promising parents a tax credit of up to $3,750 per student for spring tuition. Global Harvest Christian School responded by raising its spring tuition to $3,500.
“The parental choice tax credit is a private school subsidy,” said Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa.
Global Harvest Christian School was not alone in its decision to raise prices; private schools statewide did the same. Parents thought the tax credit would reduce what they pay. Instead, many schools raised tuition in a comparable amount to the tax credit.
School leaders were frank with parents about the fiscal godsend the program created.
“It means we will be able to not only pay our teachers a decent salary, charge tuition that is helpful for us and not hurt you financially, but it means we can do so many things for our school,” Head of School Jami Rudd wrote to parents in a Facebook group, according to screenshots shared with Oklahoma Watch. “It also means you will not have to pay tuition.”
The school stuck with $3,500 per semester for the 2024-25 school year, documents show.
Nearly a quarter of Oklahoma private schools raised their tuition past inflation rates in the past year
Oklahoma Watch analyzed the posted prices of all schools approved by the Oklahoma Tax Commission as of August 8, excluding out-of-state and online options. Through archived internet records and interviews with school administrators, the investigation found that approximately 12% of the 171 schools capped tuition at or near $7,500, the maximum amount a family can receive from the Parental Choice Tax Credit Program.
Approximately 20% of schools raised tuition anywhere from 6% to 100% in the last year, an increase too large to cite inflation as justification. The average inflation rate over the past 12 months was about 3%.
Some schools did not publish tuition prices online so those percentages are likely lower than reality.
One April 2024studyby Princeton University researchers examining voucher-like taxpayer-funded subsidies in Iowa and Nebraska found that when voucher programs were universal, meaning no criteria for participation like in Oklahoma, private schools increased prices on average by 25%.
More:Ryan Walters announces creation of school choice office inside education agency
Anotherstudypublished in 2016 by researchers from the University of Notre Dame and the National Bureau of Economic Research found that universal private school subsidy programs lead to price increases but no change in enrollment.
Rep. Melissa Provenzano, D-Tulsa, introduced House Bill 3945 in February. The bill aimed to prevent schools participating in the Parental Choice Tax Credit Program from raising their tuition. It was never assigned to a committee.
Provenzano pursued the bill after several Tulsa area parents complained that they were being made to apply for the tax credit by their private school. She quickly noticed that many schools were doing this in order to raise tuition.
“It’s just a silent discrimination of kids who can’t make up the difference at these schools that have increased their tuition,” Provenzano said. “Under the guise of school choice or parent choice, it’s school choice for thee but not for me because all kids were not included.”
The law that created the program does not prevent or address increases in tuition, Emily Haxton, a spokesperson at the Oklahoma Tax Commission, said.
Funded by tax money, the program is set to expand. The state allocated $150 million for 2024 and pledged to increase the budget to $200 million in 2025, maxing out at $250 million in 2026.
Priority consideration is given to families who have a household income of $150,000 or less but anybody may apply.
How much have Oklahoma private schools increased tuition?
Antioch Christian Academy in Oklahoma City charged $5,500 for kindergarten through 12th grade during the2023-2024 school year. For the upcoming school year,tuition priceswere broken down by grade level, with the highest fees set at $7,500 for grades 9 through 12.
“It definitely played a factor,” said Headmaster David Herren, referring to the role of the tax credit in the decision to increase tuition.
Seventy-seven percent of returning families at Antioch Christian Academy were accepted into the Parental Choice Tax Credit Program.
Stillwater Christian School, Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School, Canadian Valley Christian Academy, and 18 others made similar decisions.
Last year, Stillwater Christian Schoolchargeda maximum of $5,660 for grades 5 through 10.This year, all students in kindergarten through 11th grade will pay $7,500.
More:Ryan Walters wants the private school tax credit cap removed. Lawmakers say that's unlikely
Some schools have increased prices to more than $7,500. At Parkview Adventist Academy, tuition for 11th and 12th graders in2023-2024ranged from $6,500 to $8,500.This year,every 11th and 12th grader must pay $9,350.
“It was brought to light that our cost to educate was much higher than our tuition prices,” Principal TJ Roberts wrote in an email to Oklahoma Watch. “As a result of that, we realized that we needed to raise our tuition in order to ensure financial stability for our school.”
Garden of Eden Christian Academy does not list tuition prices on its website. Instead, “Oklahoma parental choice tax credit approved to cover tuition” is written under itsprogram pricing options.
Legacy Christian Schoolcapped 2024-2025 tuitionat $7,000 for kindergarten through 4th grade students but uniquely offered a $1,500 discount to those not enrolled in the tax credit program. In other words, since the state is willing to give them up to $7,500, they are charging the tax credit families more. The tuition charged to families not in the program is $5,500.
In other cases, the entire student body received the tax credit, so administrators said no one would be negatively affected by higher tuition costs. Bristow Adventist School, for example, has a student body of six. All of them enrolled in the tax credit program.
“It has basically doubled,” said Melanie Shroud, teacher and principal of Bristow Adventist School, referring to the tuition increase. Shroud said the tax credit program was the primary reason for the increase, with last year’s tuition of approximately $4,000 and this year’s at $7,000.
Protecting families from higher tuition costs
Not all schools chose to increase tuition the maximum amount available through the program. Some simply adjusted for inflation.
Riverfield Country Day School increased tuition by approximately 4% between last year and this year, a difference small enough to cite inflation as justification.
“We increase our tuition every year, but we didn’t increase it because of the tax credit,” said Jerry Bates, head of school at Riverfield Country Day School.
Bates said the goal of paying teachers more and the costs associated with two new buildings on campus were the reasons for this year’s increase.
Ron Titus, director of Southern Nazarene Lab School, raised tuition about 5% over the last year. Titus said an annual tuition increase of 4% to 5% is typical of his school in order to keep up with inflation and goals of improving teacher pay. He said he probably should have increased prices more but was worried about the effect that could have on the student body.
“What I don’t want to do is price out low-income families because I think they’re the heart and soul of our school,” Titus said.
Some said that without proper oversight, parental choice tax credit schools were bound to increase tuition fees.
“It’s hard to fault the schools for what they were given a bright green light to do,” David Blatt, director of research and strategic impact at Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, said.
Oklahoma Watch reporter Jennifer Palmer contributed to this report.
Ruby Topalian is a 2024 summer intern at Oklahoma Watch covering general assignments. Contact her at rtopalian@oklahomawatch.org.
