Rayne Catholic Elementary School

LA GATOR at Rayne Catholic Elementary School

Louisiana's 2025-26 list of BESE-approved nonpublic schools includes Rayne Catholic Elementary School, with a classification of accredited. In LA GATOR terms that is the green light: an approved school can bill the account for tuition and required fees once it has registered in Odyssey for the year. The state does not publish which approved schools registered, so the office is the place to confirm it. The school's Brumfield v. Dodd approval, which any school serving state-funded students needs, is dated 1976.

The state list shows 200 K-12 students and 22 pre-K children, which puts it at number 32 by enrollment among the 49 approved schools in the eight parishes that reported a figure.

It is one of the Catholic schools of the Diocese of Lafayette, whose territory covers the eight parishes on this site except Morgan City. Diocesan parish schools usually quote a parishioner rate and a non-parishioner rate, and the difference is the first number to ask about.

The school ends at grade 8, and the account goes with your child to the next approved school that admits them. The closest approved schools enrolling grade 9 are Notre Dame High School, Northside Christian School, Westminster Christian Academy (Lafayette), Lafayette Christian Academy.

It was also on the state's 2024-25 Tuition Donation Credit list. For a household at or under 250% of the federal poverty level, that means an STO scholarship can be added after LA GATOR, with the two together capped at the school's actual tuition and fees.

In the federal Private School Survey for 2023-24, the school reported 201 students, 27.3 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio near 7.4 students per teacher. Listed memberships: National Catholic Educational Association.

Adding up the funded years

From kindergarten to grade 8, a student can spend 9 school years here. At 2026-27 award levels that adds up to about $47,187 on the standard award, $68,634 at the 250%-of-poverty level, and as much as $137,277 for a student served under IDEA. The Legislature sets funding each year, so use this to plan, not as a promise. The pre-K years are not covered; eligibility starts at age 5.

Covering the balance

Start with the parishioner rate and what the parish asks of a family to qualify for it. Then ask for the fee schedule, whether fees are billed through Odyssey as required fees, and whether the parish or the school offers its own tuition assistance for the balance.

Check my funding for this school →

What to ask the school office

1. Have you registered in Odyssey for 2026-27, and how do you bill against the four quarterly deposits?
2. What is the registered-parishioner rate, and what does our church parish require before we qualify for it?
3. What is the full cost for my child's grade, fees included, and what would a family on $5,243 or $7,626 still owe?
4. Will you take an STO scholarship for 2026-27, and do you apply it after LA GATOR?
5. Where did your most recent grade 8 class go next?
6. Does a pre-K place carry into kindergarten, the first year the account can pay?
7. How far do your families drive, and is there a carpool from Lafayette or the next town over?

Nearby private schools

Straight-line distance from federal campus coordinates; road distance across the Atchafalaya basin and the bayous is longer.