The outer-parish academies: Minden, Grand Cane, Coushatta, Athens and Haynesville

Four parishes outside Caddo and Bossier have approved nonpublic schools, and in most of them there is exactly one.

Where these figures come from. Approval status, grade span, classification and enrollment: the Louisiana Department of Education, 2025-2026 BESE-Approved Nonpublic Schools Academic Classification List & Brumfield v. Dodd Approvals (May 19, 2025). Tuition Donation Credit (STO) participation: the Louisiana Department of Education, Tuition Donation Credit Program 2024-2025 Participating Nonpublic Schools. Addresses, teacher counts and religious affiliation: the U.S. Department of Education, NCES Private School Survey (2023-24 public-use file; 2021-22 where a school did not respond in 2023-24). Louisiana does not collect tuition from nonpublic schools, so tuition has to come from the school.

Four parishes outside Caddo and Bossier have approved nonpublic schools, and in most of them there is exactly one. These academies draw students from a wide radius, charge well below Shreveport tuition and are often the only private option within half an hour. For a family in Webster, DeSoto, Red River or Claiborne Parish, the account math is the most favorable in the state.

Independent

Glenbrook School

Minden

453 K-12 studentsGrades K-12TDC school

School details →Independent

Claiborne Academy

Haynesville

164 K-12 studentsGrades PK-12

School details →Baptist

Mt. Olive Christian School

Athens

155 K-12 studentsGrades PK-12

School details →Christian

Central School

Grand Cane

146 K-12 studentsGrades PK-12

School details →Independent

Riverdale Academy

Coushatta

141 K-12 studentsGrades PK-12

School details →

School	Type	City	Grades	LA GATOR tuition	K-12 students*
Central School 1035 2nd Street	Christian	Grand Cane	PK-12	✓ BESE-approved	146
Claiborne Academy 6741 Highway 79	Independent	Haynesville	PK-12	✓ BESE-approved	164
Community First High School	Christian	Minden	9-12	✓ BESE-approved	—
Country Day Montessori School	Montessori	Coushatta	PK-11	✓ BESE-approved	—
Glenbrook School 1674 Country Club Circle	Independent	Minden	K-12	✓ BESE-approved	453
Mt. Olive Christian School 15349 Highway 9	Baptist	Athens	PK-12	✓ BESE-approved	155
Riverdale Academy 100 Riverdale Road	Independent	Coushatta	PK-12	✓ BESE-approved	141

* K-12 enrollment on the state's 2025-26 BESE approval list; federal survey enrollment for schools not on that list. "BESE-approved" means the school can accept LA GATOR tuition if it registers in Odyssey for the year. "Not approved" schools can't be paid tuition from the account.

One school per parish, mostly

Webster Parish: Glenbrook School (453 K-12 students, grades K-12), Community First High School (no enrollment reported to the state)
Claiborne Parish: Claiborne Academy (164 K-12 students, grades PK-12), Mt. Olive Christian School (155 K-12 students, grades PK-12)
De Soto Parish: Central School (146 K-12 students, grades PK-12)
Red River Parish: Riverdale Academy (141 K-12 students, grades PK-12), Country Day Montessori School (no enrollment reported to the state)

Four parishes, 7 approved schools, and in two of them the only school with real enrollment is a single academy. That is the whole school-choice market for a family in Grand Cane, Coushatta, Athens or Haynesville, and it shapes the decision in a way no amount of program design can change: there is rarely a second option if the fit is wrong.

This is where the award goes furthest

The academies out here are the least expensive approved schools in the six parishes, and several of them run pre-K or kindergarten through grade 12 on one campus, so a family is not planning a transfer either. Put the $5,243 standard award against a small-town academy's tuition and the balance is frequently modest; add an STO scholarship for a qualifying household and it can disappear. That combination does not exist in Shreveport proper, let alone in New Orleans.

Two of these approvals are new, both dated January 2025, and neither had reported enrollment when the state collected its figures. A new school is not a worse school, but it is a different kind of decision: ask which grades run this year, how many teachers are on staff, and what the plan is if a grade does not fill.

Distance, and the alternative to driving it

Minden is about 30 miles east of Shreveport on I-20, Grand Cane is south on US 171, and Coushatta and Haynesville are further still. Families here routinely drive 20 to 40 minutes each way, and the schools know it: ask how far their families come and whether a carpool runs from your direction. If the drive does not work, the account's other mode does. A home-based year built on an accredited online program plus funded tutoring costs less than the standard award in total, and for a family 25 miles from the nearest approved school it is often the more realistic plan. The home-based page covers the registration rule that trips up long-time homeschoolers.

See what your family's account would cover here

Five questions, no documents. An advisor calls back with the amount you are likely to get, which Shreveport-Bossier schools take it, and what covers the rest.

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