First Lutheran School

EFA and First Lutheran School

In 2024-25, 43 students at First Lutheran School used an Education Freedom Account, about 57% of the roughly 75 enrolled.

That ranks #7 of 8 participating schools in Sebastian and Crawford counties by number of EFA students. Its EFA share is below the local average of 64% across those schools.

Of those EFA students, 84% continued in the program the next school year and 79% stayed at First Lutheran School. Statewide, schools kept 84% of their EFA students on average. Students who graduated count as leaving.

On the nationally norm-referenced tests participating schools must give, First Lutheran School's EFA students averaged the 66th percentile in math and the 67th in reading, above the national median of 50. Statewide, EFA students averaged the 57th and 59th.

Families paid $142,937 to First Lutheran School from EFA accounts in the spring 2024-25 transactions the report covers. Fall transactions aren't broken out by provider.

In the federal Private School Survey (2021-22), the school reported 73 students, 15 full-time-equivalent teachers and a student-teacher ratio of about 4.8:1.

From kindergarten through grade 6, that's 7 school years. At the 2026-27 amount, a child who uses an account every year here would bring about $50,456 in state funding over that span. The amount is set each year, so treat this as a planning number. Pre-K years are not covered; the account starts at kindergarten.

Paying the balance

Church schools often offer member, sibling and staff discounts. Ask whether they still apply when part of the bill is paid from an EFA, and which fees (books, uniforms, technology) the school invoices through ClassWallet.

Check my funding for this school →

After grade 6: where students can continue

First Lutheran School ends at grade 6. These local EFA schools serve grade 7:

• Trinity Catholic School (Fort Smith, grades 6-8, about 3 mi)
• Union Christian Academy (Fort Smith, grades PK-12, about 4 mi)

Questions to ask the school

1. How do you bill EFA families: directly through ClassWallet each quarter, or do we pay and get reimbursed?
2. What is the full cost for my child's grade, including registration, books, uniforms and fees, and what's left after the $7,208 account?
3. Which discounts and aid apply on top of the account?
4. Which nationally norm-referenced test do you give, and will you share my child's results?
5. Do you have openings in pre-K, and does a pre-K seat carry into kindergarten, when the account starts?

Closest private schools

Straight-line distance from federal survey coordinates.