“Since the beginning of the ESAs, our kindergarten classes have grown significantly,” said Principal Bruce Hartley. “Four years ago, our kindergarten class had 10 students. The last two or three years, it’s been 17 or 18.”

Education Savings Accounts make state funding available to parents of students who attend accredited nonpublic schools, and can be used for tuition, fees and other eligible education expenses. St. Paul is an accredited private school in Fort Dodge for preschool through eighth-grade students

This year, St. Paul’s enrollment is over 100 students for kindergarten through eighth grade, which Hartley said is up about 10 from last year. This growth is largely created due to the larger kindergarten classes that are replacing the smaller graduating eighth-grade classes.

In addition, he said more than 30 students are enrolled in preschool.

-Messenger file photo by Britt Kudla
Toby Merrill, 6, of Fort Dodge, jumps up and down while performing at the St. Paul Lutheran School Christmas concert on Dec.17, 2025, in Fort Dodge.

“We’ve seen a pretty good holdover from our preschools into kindergarten,” Hartley said. “Our preschool numbers have been fairly strong all the way through. If the majority of preschoolers stay for kindergarten, that automatically raises our numbers for growth.”

More students eventually create a need for more staff.

“It’s kind of nice to have that gradual growth,” Hartley said. “We were able to split one of our combined classes last year.”

He said the third- and fourth-grade classes are no longer combined in one room, but have been separated to have individual teachers.

“In a couple years, we’ll have to split the fifth- and sixth-grade classes,” he said.

This past year, St. Paul welcomed a new fifth- and sixth-grade teacher in Sarah Sperr, a recent University of Northern Iowa graduate.

“When we get to the point when we have to split our seventh- and eighth-grade classroom, we’ll be short a classroom,” Hartley said.

If that happens, he said the school may need to move its library in order to keep all of the classes in the same area.

With the start of ESAs, Hartley said St. Paul is now using the same IFAST testing, or standardized tests, used in Iowa public schools to look at data and academic growth in the areas of reading, math and science.

“We’ve really only taken it the past two years, so we don’t have a lot of data to look at,” he said, “but it’s looking pretty good as far as our achievement. … It’s giving us some good data on how well we’re doing, and what we need to improve on.”

As a school that promotes a Christ-centered education, all St. Paul students also participate in a religion class four days a week, while chapel is held one day a week.

“Our classes each take a month where they will lead chapel,” said Hartley. “They put on a little skit; they do some singing. It’s a good way for us to be able to bring that into the school and also help kids to learn about the Bible and religion.”

But St. Paul Lutheran School offers more than academics.

Extracurricular opportunities include band and choir, as well as co-ed volleyball, basketball and soccer. Cheerleading is also available, with a third- and fourth-grade junior cheerleading squad, as well as a fifth- through eighth-grade squad.

“We have opportunities for our choirs to sing during Advent and Lenten services,” Harley said, as well as both Christmas and spring concerts.

Many students also participate in the annual Frontier Days parade.

A ceremony for the graduating eighth-grade class is held one evening in May. Hartley said currently the school enrolls students from about four different districts, including Manson Northwest Webster and Southeast Valley.

“Of the 10 that graduated last year, all but one went on to Fort Dodge Senior High,” he said. “We did have one that went to St. Edmond. But for the most part, our students have chosen to go to Senior High.”

He said the relationships created at St. Paul are often a factor in that decision.

“Since they’ve become pretty good friends and become pretty close,” Hartley explained, students often want to continue those friendships by transferring to the next academic level together.