In Lafayette, most Catholic families change schools after 8th grade. Drive forty minutes north or south and that is no longer true. In Opelousas, Eunice, Ville Platte, Abbeville, New Iberia and Morgan City, an approved private school will take a child from pre-K or kindergarten all the way to graduation on one campus.
That shape matters for LA GATOR, because the account renews every year and a family that never changes schools never has to rebuild its funding plan from scratch. Here is what the state's approval list and the federal Private School Survey show about these schools.
The K-12 schools outside Lafayette Parish
Eleven approved schools in the seven outer parishes run from the early grades through grade 12. By the K-12 enrollment each reported on the 2025-26 BESE list:
- Sacred Heart School, Ville Platte: 706 students in K-12, the only approved school in Evangeline Parish.
- Central Catholic School, Morgan City: 505, plus 50 in pre-K.
- Vermilion Catholic, Abbeville: 490, plus 35 in pre-K.
- Opelousas Catholic School: 458, plus 33 in pre-K.
- St. Edmund Catholic School, Eunice: 432, plus 53 in pre-K.
- Westminster Christian Academy, Opelousas: 415.
- Academy of the Sacred Heart, Grand Coteau: 369.
- Acadiana Christian School, New Iberia: 302.
- Highland Baptist Christian School, New Iberia: 295.
- Family Worship Christian Academy, Opelousas: 192.
- Immanuel Christian School, Morgan City: 96, approved in December 2023.
Six of the eleven are Catholic. Inside Lafayette Parish the same pattern exists at Ascension Episcopal, Westminster's Lafayette campus, John Paul the Great Academy and First Baptist Christian School, but there it is the exception. Out here it is the norm in most county seats.
What thirteen years adds up to
LA GATOR does not pay for pre-K; eligibility starts at age 5. From kindergarten through grade 12 a student can be funded for thirteen school years. At 2026-27 levels, that is about $68,159 on the standard $5,243 award and about $99,138 at the $7,626 level for families at or under 250% of the poverty line. For a student served under IDEA, at up to $15,253 a year, the total can be far higher.
Nobody should budget on those totals. The Legislature sets funding every year, and for 2026-27 it held the program at about $43.5 million while 16,993 students were found eligible statewide. But the totals show why a thirteen-year school is a different decision from a parish school that ends at grade 8. You are choosing a school you may renew the same award at for over a decade, while its tuition rises with the grade.
What the federal survey adds
The federal Private School Survey fills in some of what the state list leaves out. In the 2023-24 survey, Vermilion Catholic reported 48 full-time-equivalent teachers and Central Catholic about 37. Highland Baptist reported 33 and lists membership in the Association of Christian Schools International. The Academy of the Sacred Heart reported about 102 full-time-equivalent teachers, is recorded as an all-girls school, and lists membership in the National Association of Independent Schools. The federal survey and the state list were collected in different years and sometimes count different grade spans, so the student counts will not match exactly.
The STO layer
Seven of the eleven were on the state's 2024-25 Tuition Donation Credit list: Central Catholic, Vermilion Catholic, Opelousas Catholic, Westminster in Opelousas, Acadiana Christian, Highland Baptist and Family Worship. Sacred Heart in Ville Platte, St. Edmund in Eunice, the Academy of the Sacred Heart and Immanuel Christian were not. For a family at or under 250% of the poverty line, that decides whether an STO scholarship can be stacked on top of the account, so ask the office about 2026-27.
Morgan City is different
One detail catches people out. The Diocese of Lafayette covers all eight of these civil parishes except Morgan City, which belongs to the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. Central Catholic School sits in St. Mary Parish and appears on our directory with the other St. Mary schools, but questions about diocesan tuition assistance or parishioner rates go to Houma-Thibodaux, not Lafayette.
Questions for a K-12 school
- What is tuition in kindergarten, in grade 6 and in grade 9 this year, and how has it changed over the last three years?
- Do you re-enroll the account for us each spring, or is renewal on the family?
- How many of your seniors started in your lower school?
- Do your high school students take dual-enrollment courses, and how are they billed?
- Do you take STO scholarships for 2026-27?
One more pattern is worth noticing. Pre-K numbers at several of these schools are substantial, 50 at Central Catholic and 53 at St. Edmund, and pre-K is often how a kindergarten seat is secured. The account does not pay for those pre-K years, so a family planning a thirteen-year run should budget the first year or two out of pocket, or ask the school about its own pre-K assistance.
Every school above is in our directory with its state and federal figures. The prairie parishes page covers St. Landry, Evangeline, Acadia and Vermilion together, and the Bayou Teche page covers Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary.