Christian Schools · McAllen, Mission & the West Valley

St. Paul Lutheran School

Christian School for grades PK-8 in McAllen. In the TEFA finder. Here's how the funding fits, what public records show, and what to ask on a visit.

Where this comes from. We read TEFA status from the Texas Education Freedom Accounts participating-school finder (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts) on October 12, 2026; student counts, grade span and faith tradition are drawn from the NCES Private School Survey (U.S. Department of Education). Tuition appears in neither, so ask the school for this year's rates and fees.

Funding at this school

$10,474
TEFA private-school award, 2026-27. It's the same at every grade served here (PK-8).
$15,790 to $16,889
Typical TEFA total with an IEP for a McAllen ISD resident (resource/self-contained to mainstream)
$94,266
What the account adds up to over 9 years, kindergarten through grade 8, at the 2026-27 amount

St. Paul Lutheran School appeared as a participating school in the state TEFA finder on October 12, 2026, so a student with an Education Freedom Account can apply the 2026-27 award of $10,474 to tuition here. Odyssey pays the school on the state's behalf in three parts: 25% on July 1, 25% on October 1 and the last 50% on February 1.

Pre-K is offered here as well. TEFA pays the full award for a 3- or 4-year-old only when the child meets a free pre-K criterion; in the Valley that's most often limited English or eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. Starting in kindergarten, any eligible child can be funded.

Many Valley church schools charge about what the award pays, or less, and the state's tuition rules make them keep member and sibling pricing for TEFA families. Congregation-run campuses can also be eligible for our partner scholarship, open to families at any income. The registered name suggests a school run by a congregation, which is the kind of school our partner fund is built around.

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On its latest federal Private School Survey (2023-24), the school listed 88 K-12 students, 11 full-time-equivalent teachers, a 7.7:1 student-teacher ratio and a 176-day school year.

Associations (federal survey): State/regional independent school association (e.g., ISAS).

Questions for your visit

  1. Do you expect to participate in TEFA in 2027-28, and can a child awarded mid-year start then?
  2. Which fees, such as registration, books, technology, uniforms or lunch, can be billed to the account?
  3. What sibling, parish or church-member rates and scholarships apply to any balance?
  4. Can you serve a child with an IEP, a speech need or a learning difference, and is that support included in tuition?
  5. Are you an approved TEFA pre-K provider, and do you take child care assistance for after-care?

After grade 8: nearby schools that continue

St. Paul Lutheran School ends at grade 8. These schools serve grade 9 through 12 and are among the closest of the same tradition:

Other Valley schools with full profiles

IEP funding for nearby districts

Home districtTEFA-funded students (Jul 29, 2026)IEP: speech only (00)IEP: mainstream (40)IEP: resource / self-contained (41-44)IEP: residential facility (81-89)
McAllen ISD312$11,404$16,889$15,790$25,815
Sharyland ISD160$11,431$17,074$15,943$26,257
Mission CISD75$11,445$17,176$16,028$26,501
La Joya ISD72$11,395$16,826$15,738$25,665

Totals are the $10,474 base plus the district add-on from the Comptroller's 2026-27 Special Education Funding Table, capped at $30,000. Funded counts come from the TEFA Annual Demographic Report (data as of July 29, 2026); districts with fewer than 30 participants aren't listed in that report. All McAllen-area districts →

We list 7 K-12 private schools in McAllen, Mission & the West Valley, and 6 of them were in the TEFA finder.

Find out which Valley funding fits your child

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