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The Hannibal Christian Academy will shut its doors for good after three years citing to financial constraints.

The school board voted Thursday to close the school, principal Elva Light said.

“Our numbers as far as enrollment are down,” she said. “There would have been a sizable deficit in 2012-2013 that would have been overwhelming. The board felt it would have been an insurmountable deficit.”

The school had 26 full-time and part-time students last year. It employed 10 faculty members.

The lion's share of the school's budget is generated by tuition since the school receives no money from the state of Missouri. That meant the school would need to undertake a much more drastic fundraising effort to keep the school operating.

Light said that parents should contact the school and begin to plan where their children will attend school in the upcoming year.

“I will work in the next month to transfer children's records to wherever they want them to attend,” she said.

The school was housed in the former St. Thomas Seminary which now serves as the home of the Hannibal Evangelical Free Church.