Whitefish Christian Academy is the recipient of a statewide donation that will provide scholarships to Montana children to attend private schools over the next four years.

Bozeman businessman Greg Gianforte and his wife, Susan, earlier this month pledged to donate $4.6 million for scholarships to low- and moderate-income children.

Whitefish Christian Academy headmaster Todd Kotila said his school has been deemed eligible to receive 15 scholarships. That’s more than an entire classroom of students at the academy.

“It’s a tremendous privilege to be selected to receive these funds,” Kotila said. “The Gianfortes’ gift will make it affordable to 15 students who might not otherwise afford to go to our school.”

Gianforte, founder and former CEO of RightNow Technologies Inc. of Bozeman, made the pledge to ACE Scholarship, a Colorado nonprofit group that provides tuition scholarships there. The group will begin providing scholarships in Montana this fall.

The partial scholarships will provide kids with $2,000 a year for K-8 grade students. Tuition at the Whitefish Christian Academy, which offers instruction through eighth grade, is about $5,000 for the academic year.

After being notified of the program, Kotila last week was working to get the word out about the scholarships. The deadline to apply is Friday, May 4.

“We need to hear from parents in the next few weeks,” he said. “I want to get the word out and make it possible for more students to go to school here.”

Kotila is excited that the scholarships may bring new students to his school that might not otherwise have been able to attend because of financial reasons.

“We’re joyful to give 15 students the chance to come here,” he said. “The scholarship is 40 percent of the cost of tuition — that’s a good amount of money.”

Kotila said the scholarship is designed to encourage new students to enroll in private school, but there is the opportunity of a few current students to earn scholarships also.

Scholarships will be need-based. A family of four — two parents and two children — with an annual income of $40,000 or less would be eligible for the scholarships.

The scholarships are designed to stay with the student over a four-year period.

“That’s great because parents often worry about how they will afford school the following year,” Kotila said.

Because the Christian Academy will be eligible for scholarships in subsequent years, Kotila estimates that the program could mean $120,000 in tuition assistance at the academy over the next four years.

Statewide 500 kids will receive scholarships for grades K-12. Younger students will earn $2,000, while those in grades 9-12 are eligible for $3,000 annually. The scholarships are available at 35 private schools.

A few Kalispell schools are also set to receive scholarships including St. Matthew’s Catholic school, Stillwater Christian School and Trinity Lutheran School.

“This is really about supporting private education in Montana,” Kotila said, who points out that Montana is one of only a few states that doesn’t offer school choice to parents, such as charter schools or vouchers.

For more information, contact the academy at www.whitefishacademy.org or call 862-5875.