Rockford private school to close mid-year, won’t return for second semester

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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School leaders say end of tax-credit scholarship program hurt its bottom line

ROCKFORD — A small private Christian academy in Rockford will close its doors mid-year after 26 years of educating students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Alpine Academy of Rockford, which is tied to Alpine Lutheran Church at 5001 Forest View Ave., will hold its final classes today. The school’s board opted not to return for the second semester as the academy faced financial struggles and dwindling enrollment numbers.

“It’s been emotional in every aspect you can think of,” said Emma Gipson, principal of Alpine Academy, who came out of retirement a year and a half ago to lead the school. “Change is hard for adults. Now you’re forcing children to change in the middle of the year. …

“It’s a lovely quaint place with some really lovable people. To see it have to do this is beyond heartbreaking.”

The school could not have continued to make payroll if it carried on for a second semester, said Scott Christiansen, president of the school’s board. He said the school was hard hit by state lawmakers’ decision to end the Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program at the end of last year.

The program, which was enacted in 2017, provided a 75% income tax credit to individuals and businesses who donated to state-approved scholarship funds. Alpine Academy saw its enrollment drop from roughly 90 down to 44 students after the tax credit ended. The majority of the decline in enrollment was because of the end of the scholarship program, Christiansen said. He said between post-pandemic aid and the tax-credit program the school was receiving more than $160,000 in annual funding.

“That all went away, every bit of it,” he said. “We were still losing just over $9,000 a year when we had those subsidies — so that’s simple math … it just became not sustainable.”

Private school leaders raised concern about the end of the program a year ago, saying it was an important way to provide parents with school choice regardless of their income. Opponents said the program diverted money away from public schools that need it most.

“This screams out that we need to have some type of parental choice,” said Christiansen, the former longtime Winnebago County Board chairman. “I don’t know if it will ever happen in this state, but we need to have parent involvement in that decision process. … Leave the politics at the door, let’s take care of the kids.”

Placing students, teachers

Alpine Academy worked with Immanuel Lutheran School in Belvidere and Rockford Lutheran to provide students a transition to a new school.

“We have been very busy helping them find something very quickly so that it can be a peaceful — not only transition when they come back after the Christmas break — but also there can be some peace for the holiday,” Gipson said.

It also worked to make sure its nine teachers and other staff members can transition to new jobs. They will be paid for three additional pay periods.

“I know two of them are retiring. The others, it looks very likely they will have a job,” Christiansen said. “That was our goal as a board to have a quote ‘soft landing,’ make sure everybody had a job best they could.”

The height of enrollment was around 250 about two dozen years ago, Christiansen said. It has a small, diverse student group now.

“Alpine is a wonderful school. It has everything that parents would want,” Gipson said. “That small class size, that more intimate relationship with teacher/student, in some cases one-on-one, where the teacher can really get to everyone to meet everyone’s needs.”

What’s next

Students will have their normal reading and math lessons today before gathering for class parties to mark the end of the school’s run.

The school also honored and celebrated students and teachers Thursday night during its Christmas program.

Christiansen said teachers will be given the time they need to collect any of their supplies. Then, the school plans to sell assets such as Smartboards and Chromebooks to help clear payroll.

The school’s board had initially hoped it could continue through the end of this school year, but realized that would not be financially feasible.

Gipson said teachers and administrators have tried to react to the closure by providing students a model for how to respond in the face of adversity. That meant continuing to focus on their classwork through the end of the semester as they prepare to move on to a new school.

“We’re trying to make it so that we can be a model for them so that when change does happen, this is how you handle it,” she said.

Gipson spent 26 years as a Rockford Public Schools teacher and administrator before retiring. She came out of retirement to run Alpine Academy and will now settle back into retirement.

“It’s really been a blessing,” she said. “But at the same time it’s also very sad that it has to end this way instead of a more positive way.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas