Westminster Christian Academy (Opelousas)

LA GATOR at Westminster Christian Academy (Opelousas)

Louisiana's 2025-26 list of BESE-approved nonpublic schools includes Westminster Christian Academy (Opelousas), 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 1997.

The state list shows 415 K-12 students and 24 pre-K children, which puts it at number 17 by enrollment among the 49 approved schools in the eight parishes that reported a figure.

Because the school runs from the early grades through grade 12, a family can hold the same award at the same campus for up to thirteen funded years. That is common outside Lafayette Parish and less so inside it, where most Catholic families change schools after 8th grade.

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.

The state published a 2025 Scholarship Cohort Index of 32.7 for the school's former Louisiana Scholarship Program students (K-8 assessment 22.5, K-8 progress 65.3). It measures only that group, not the whole school.

In the federal Private School Survey for 2021-22, the school reported 391 students, 35 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio near 11.2 students per teacher. Listed memberships: Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), NAEYC, State/regional independent school association (e.g., ISAS).

Adding up the funded years

From kindergarten to grade 12, a student can spend 13 school years here. At 2026-27 award levels that adds up to about $68,159 on the standard award, $99,138 at the 250%-of-poverty level, and as much as $198,289 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

Ask whether the school discounts for church members, siblings or staff, and whether it applies those discounts before or after the LA GATOR deposit. Ask which fees, such as books, technology and testing, are billed through Odyssey.

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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 full cost for my child's grade, fees included, and what would a family on $5,243 or $7,626 still owe?
3. Will you take an STO scholarship for 2026-27, and do you apply it after LA GATOR?
4. How has tuition changed between the lower, middle and high school grades over the last few years?
5. Does a pre-K place carry into kindergarten, the first year the account can pay?
6. 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.