Limits on the number of students who can attend private school through a publicly funded state choice program have increased from 1% of the school district’s population in 2015-16 to 10% in 2025-26. In that time frame, the number of choice students from Brown County school districts has grown from 280 to 1,725 – a more than sixfold increase
Repeatedly, though, administrators emphasized that small size isn’t necessarily a negative. Academically, administrators say their students in mixed-age classes score well, although private school students’ test scores aren’t made publicly available to confirm this. Choice students’ scores are shared, but only if there are 20 or more students per grade, which small private schools inherently don’t have.
Across Brown County, only three grade schools under 100 had a grade with more than 10 students in 2024-25 (the largest grade was 13). That means that even if students are broken into grade-level groups for shorter lessons, they still get personalized attention, and teachers can answer their questions before the lesson moves on.
Students, teachers and parents all know each other well. At St. John’s in Wrightstown, parents can walk their students to the door of their classrooms. That lets parents both connect with each other and with their children’s teachers, forming a broader community, Raddatz said. And at Morrison Zion, Geidel tells any parent with a concern to text him directly: “I’d rather put out a small fire than a big one.”
These small schools are forces that bring together community members and have often done so for generations, standing as proud traditional schoolhouses. With that, though, comes the pressure of keeping that balance.
“We’re going to do the best we can. If it gets to the point where we can’t, I don’t want to put it that way, but that’s what happens,” Hochmuth said. “As long as God allows us to be here, we’re going to be here.”
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Green Bay Press-Gazette’s education reporter is a superstar.
That said, I am extremely pessimistic. Relying on aging congregations’ donations to counter low birth rates is so tenuous. The 2 named churches raise more money, adjusted for inflation, but have fewer parishioners. 😔