Fort Smith's Catholic schools work as a system. Two parish elementary schools, Christ the King and Immaculate Conception, serve children from early childhood through grade 5. Trinity Catholic serves grades 6 to 8 for both. All three took Education Freedom Account students in 2024-25. If you're considering Catholic education in the River Valley, here's how the account fits each stage.
The three schools at a glance
- Christ the King Catholic School, on South Greenwood Avenue: 115 EFA students out of about 205 in 2024-25. 97% of those students continued in the program the next year, and 88% stayed at the school.
- Immaculate Conception School, on South 14th Street downtown: 121 EFA students out of about 230. 96% continued in the program, and 86% stayed.
- Trinity Catholic School, on South Albert Pike Avenue: grades 6 to 8, with 71 EFA students out of about 240.
The two parish schools have more than half their students on an account, above the Arkansas average. Trinity's share is lower, about 30%, partly because its middle-school families include many who were paying tuition before the EFA existed.
How tuition works
Like most Catholic schools, the Fort Smith schools usually set different rates for active parishioners and for families outside the parish. Find out which rate you qualify for before you do any math. The state requires participating schools to charge EFA families the same tuition they charge everyone else in the same category, so the account doesn't change your rate.
The 2026-27 account is $7,208 per student, paid into ClassWallet in four deposits of about $1,802. The school invoices ClassWallet and is paid from your child's account. Ask whether registration, books and other fees are invoiced the same way. Many can be paid from the account, but only if the school bills them through ClassWallet.
Early childhood: the kindergarten line
Christ the King and Immaculate Conception both start well before kindergarten. The EFA does not: a child must be 5 by August 1 to start an account. Families pay for the early years privately or through early-childhood assistance, then apply for the EFA in the spring before kindergarten. For 2026-27 the window ran March 9 to June 1. The state hasn't announced 2027-28 dates.
A practical tip: the account renews each year inside ClassWallet, so you apply once. If you have a younger child coming up behind an older sibling, apply for each child separately in the year they reach kindergarten.
The move to Trinity
For parish families, grade 6 means a change of campus but not of system. The account moves with your child, and its value doesn't depend on grade. What usually changes is tuition, which tends to rise in middle school. Ask Trinity for its rates early, and ask whether it bills tuition evenly across the four EFA deposits or expects a deposit before the first one arrives in the fall.
Trinity's retention in the 2024-25 report, 76% continuing in the program and 75% at the school, is lower than the parish schools'. That's what you'd expect at a three-year school, because every eighth grader counts as leaving.
After grade 8
This is the hardest part of Catholic education in Fort Smith. Our directory doesn't include a Catholic high school in Sebastian or Crawford county. Families typically choose among Union Christian Academy, the River Valley's one participating PK-12 school; an accredited online program paid from the account; or a Catholic high school elsewhere in Arkansas. We cover that decision in detail in our guide to high school options after eighth grade.
How EFA students tested
Participating schools give a nationally norm-referenced test every year. In the 2024-25 report, EFA students at Christ the King averaged the 52nd percentile in math and the 50th in reading. At Immaculate Conception it was the 51st and 54th, and at Trinity the 39th and 43rd. Statewide, EFA students averaged the 57th and 59th. These are averages for EFA students only, on whichever test each school uses, so treat them as a reason to ask how the school uses its results, not as a ranking.
Questions to bring to a tour
- What are the parishioner and non-parishioner rates for my child's grade, and what makes a family "active"?
- Which fees do you invoice through ClassWallet?
- Is there a sibling discount, and is it applied before or after the account?
- What parish or diocesan aid is available for the balance, and when is it due?
Timing your first year
The first EFA deposit of the school year usually arrives in late summer or early fall, not in the spring when many schools take enrollment deposits. Ask the school how it handles that gap. Some will credit a spring deposit back once the account pays. Others treat it as a non-refundable registration fee that must come from family funds. Knowing the answer up front avoids a surprise in April.
All three schools are in our Fort Smith school directory with their full state figures. For help with your numbers, start a funding check.