GRAND FORKS – Faith-based schools in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks are seeing rises in enrollment in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, with increases ranging from 10% to 38%.
St. Michael’s Catholic School, Holy Family-Saint Mary’s Catholic School, Sacred Heart Catholic School and Riverside Christian School all have seen increases over the last five years. Different than their public counterparts, faith-based schools – according to their leaders – offer families and students more diverse environments: smaller, faith-driven, accessible and community-oriented.
“I think that there is something to be said about parents who are looking for a holistic education for their child, an education that addresses the whole person. … And I think there’s a desire for that in our community,” said Sarah Effhauser, chief of staff at Sacred Heart. “Our public school districts are great – so the education is there. I think it’s that community aspect of a like-minded group of people who are able to talk about their faith.”
All four faith-based schools in Greater Grand Forks have grown in recent years, including:
- Holy Family-St. Mary’s (K-5): Up 9.5% since 2020-21, from 115 students to 126.
- St. Michael’s (pre K-5): Up 26% since 2020-21, from 167 students to 210.
- Sacred Heart (pre K-12): Up 12% since 2019-20, from 473 students to 529.
- Riverside Christian (pre K-12): Up 38% since 2019-20, from 159 students then to 220.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics,
fall enrollment in public schools nationwide from 2019 to 2023 fell by 2.5%
, representing more than 1.2 million students nationwide. By 2031, the NCES projects that percentage will look more like 5% – meaning 5% fewer students enrolling in public schools in 2031 than there were in 2021. The decline in public school enrollment led to a subsequent enrollment growth in private institutions, according to
an article published by FutureEd
, which cites a U.S. Census Bureau study that shows a 22% increase in private school enrollment since the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Greater Grand Forks school leaders cite a number of factors that may have contributed to their schools’ growth, Amanda Carter, principal at Holy Family-St. Mary’s, said the pandemic highlighted the luxury of small educational environments.
“COVID brought a lot of changes. Our enrollment increased a lot during that time, and has continued that way,” Carter said. “COVID brought a lot of people because they were more comfortable with the small atmosphere. And then once you start, you have a hard time leaving.”
This school year, the Grand Forks School District has approximately 7,900 students and the East Grand Forks Public Schools District has 1,925. For comparison, all four faith-based schools have a combined enrollment of 1,085.
The difference in school size not only can affect students’ experiences in the classroom, but also families’ access, said St. Michael’s Principal Sara Dudley. She said parents who choose religious education often appreciate the individual relationships with school staff and the access to school leadership.
“I think another reason parents are choosing Catholic education is because they really want to feel connected to their school,” she said. “They want to be able to come in and have relationships with the teacher, be able to have access to the teacher, access to me.”
The close-knit educational environment, according to Carter, can allow for greater parental involvement and influence over their children’s curriculum.
“Families have the opportunity to be more involved in the schools. Not to say that they can’t in public, but there’s just more of an opportunity here, and more choice in what their children are learning,” she said. “There’s more collaboration here. There’s more input on what you’re teaching. There’s more trust. It’s difficult because there are so many people that are telling the teachers what to do versus what the students really need, I feel like. That’s something that’s definitely different here.”
While all schools must follow teaching guidelines and requirements, religious institutions have more freedom in what they teach and their curricular worldview. The emphasis and infusion of faith into day-to-day lessons is a core reason why families are choosing religious education, the local faith-based school leaders said.
“Our education here, it’s based on the Bible,” said Sheri Moonen, Riverside Christian’s admissions, marketing and special events coordinator. “It’s based on that Christian aspect. And not only in their day when they’re able to pray, they’re able to talk about God and Jesus in our science classes and in our history classes.”
According to Effhauser, that faith can expand past the classroom to create a more unified community. She said many of the families switching over to faith-based institutions are doing so to find a community with similar values that they can raise their children in and around.
“The families that we’re encountering are ready to join a community of people who are like-minded, who strive to just build strong families,” Effhauser said. “The community is really what’s important. It’s the packed gyms on a Friday night, the youth sports that we offer, and the ability to worship together in common space — to have a common unifying factor of our families that Christ is at the center.”
Due to the increasing student enrollment, Greater Grand Forks’ faith-based schools have expanded.
In 2020, Riverside Christian School began offering high school classes, making the school K-12. It’s now in the midst of a capital campaign to build a new school on the south side of Grand Forks. Sacred Heart recently added seven classrooms and a commons area – allowing the school to offer two sections for each grade level, from kindergarten through 12th grade. Despite the expansion, Sacred Heart still has several grade levels at capacity and maintains a waitlist for a number of grades.
The newest expansion comes from a partnership between Holy Family-St. Mary’s and St. Michael’s. Last year, the schools combined to form the All Saints Catholic Schools Network, which unites the schools with a shared mission, curriculum and financial resources.
“The reason we looked into creating this network is really to build our capacity to grow Catholic education,” Dudley said. “So we wanted to combine our resources and then, by combining our resources, we thought we’d be able to have more professional development opportunities for our teachers. We thought we would be able to really share the mission of Catholic education more widely in Grand Forks.”
Made possible with the combined resources, the All Saints Catholic Network has opened the St. Carlo Acutis Middle School, currently hosted on the top floor of St. Michael’s. This year, the school is only accepting sixth-grade students. It will expand to include seventh grade in the 2026-2027 school year, with eighth grade being added in 2027-2028.
A fundraising project is underway with hopes to build a new St. Carlo Acutis Middle School building, to be built across from St. Michael’s. It’s expected to be open for sixth- through eighth-grade students for the 2027-2028 school year. The $12 million building will include five classrooms, a prayer room, gathering hall, media center, STEM classroom and administrative space.
“We’ve really been able to form it the way we want kids to be taught, and what we want for our kids going into middle school,” Carter said. “I would say my biggest hopes and dreams for this middle school is to have its own identity separate from the elementary schools. … Also to be religious leaders in our schools.”
St. Carlo Acutis, the saint after whom the school was named, was a 15-year-old boy who died from leukemia in 2006. Acutis was born in London before moving to Italy, where he was raised and is now entombed. He was canonized in September 2025 for his use of digital technology to promote Catholicism.
As enrollment continues to grow at faith-based schools across the country, school choice laws are being pursued by states nationwide. School choice is a term that encompasses a variety of policies that seek to shift public dollars from the public education system into the private education system, allowing students and families to choose a school that’s the best fit for their needs.
In North Dakota during the 2025 session of the Legislature, HB 1540, would have created an educational savings account program for students not enrolled in public schools. However, it was vetoed by Gov. Kelly Amstrong in April. Nonetheless, in Armstrong’s veto, he wrote in favor of school choice, stating that HB 1540 was not the right bill to deliver the message.
“In its final form, House Bill 1540 fails to deliver the school choice North Dakota needs, especially in rural areas where nonpublic school options are few and far between,” Armstrong wrote. “Passing a voucher bill that caters to only a small segment of North Dakota’s student population all but guarantees a voter referendum and threatens to derail the prospect of good school choice policy for years to come. We only get one bite at this apple, and House Bill 1540 bites off more than North Dakota citizens can stomach.”
If a school choice bill passes in North Dakota, Carter believes it will “dramatically” increase the enrollment numbers of the All Saints Catholic Schools Network in Grand Forks.
