Bogalusa’s Annunciation Catholic School is among the first group of schools participating in the newly implemented statewide voucher program, a part of Gov. Jindal’s education reform package that gives some Louisiana students the option to attend a nonpublic school with the state picking up the tab.

Parents who wished to take part in the program had to turn their child’s application in to ACS by Friday, and the school had to submit that information to the state Monday, Matthews said. Now that all the applications are in the Louisiana Department of Education’s hands, the state will be responsible selecting which students will get the spots and no more spaces can be requested by the school for this year, she said.

Voucher recipients will be identified by the LDOE through a prioritized lottery process and will be notified of the lottery results by July 31, according to the department’s website.

ACS received 16 applications for its kindergarten program, which has four open slots, and five applications for second grade, where there are three openings, Principal Veda Matthews said.

Matthews said she was “thrilled” with the amount of interest of school voucher interest ACS received.

“I just wish that we had more openings that we could have made available,” she said.

Welcoming some new faces into the student body through the program will have a positive impact on the school, Matthews said.

“It will let some children who otherwise couldn’t attend be here with us next year, so we look forward to it,” she said.

Bowling Green School in Franklinton and Bens Ford Christian School in Bogalusa will not be participating in the voucher program during the upcoming school year.