Nearly 1 in 4 NC students don’t attend traditional public schools, new figures show

New state data shows that more North Carolina families are picking alternatives to traditional public schools.

Reports released Tuesday by the state Division of Non-Public Education show enrollment in both private schools and homeschooling increased last school year. In the same time period, enrollment rose in charter schools but dropped in traditional public schools.

The data comes amid a heated debate about the role the state should play in educating North Carolina’s 1.8 million K-12 students. The Republican-controlled General Assembly has expanded school choice options, while Democratic lawmakers say not enough is being done to support public schools.

Here’s a look at the new figures.

Private school enrollment rising

The state’s 881 private schools reported enrolling 131,230 students in the 2023-24 school year. That’s a 4,462-student increase, or 3.5% more than the 2022-23 school year.

Enrollment in private schools has increased 26% since the 2019-20 school year . Between the 2019-20 and 2022-23 school years, the Associated Press reported that North Carolina had the nation’s fifth-highest growth in private school enrollment .

Enrollment could soar this fall depending on how many families receive a private school voucher under new rules that eliminated income eligibility limits.

Some parents rallied Wednesday on Halifax Mall in Raleigh to urge GOP lawmakers to keep their promise to fund Opportunity Scholarships for all 71,956 applicants .

“Since this movement began less than two weeks ago, we have received countless messages from parents from every corner of the state who are frustrated by the lack of action by our legislature to clear the 55,000 students waitlisted for the Opportunity Scholarship,” the group Keep Your Promise posted Tuesday .

“This is a true grassroots army of parents ready to make a difference for our children and hold our leaders accountable for the promises made.”

Gains in homeschooling

The state estimates that 157,642 students were homeschooling last school year . That’s a 4,925-student jump, or 3.2% more than the 2022-23 school year.

Homeschooling enrollment has increased 5.7% since the 2019-20 school year . But the actual post-pandemic increase could be higher because the state in recent years has removed thousands of families who never submitted paperwork when they stopped homeschooling.

If all the homeschoolers were counted as their own school district they’d only be slightly smaller than the Wake County school system, which is the state’s largest.

Fewer in traditional public schools

Overall public school enrollment rose last school year. But the gains were fueled by charter schools and not the state’s 115 school systems.

Enrollment in traditional public schools dropped 0.4% last school year to 1.36 million children, EdNC reported . Enrollment is down 3.6% since the pandemic started in the end of the 2019-20 school year.

But charter schools grew by 4.9% last school year to educate 139,985 students. Between the 2019-20 and 2022-23 school year, North Carolina had the third-highest growth rate in the nation in charter school enrollment,

Charter schools are classified as public schools. But they are exempt from some of the rules that traditional public schools must follow.

Shift in where students attend school

Traditional public schools still educate the bulk of the state’s students. But that share has been declining.

The percentage of the state’s students educated in traditional public schools has dropped from 86.5% in 2010 to 75.7% last school year.

The percentage is even lower in Wake County, where only 74.3% of the county’s students attended district schools last school year.

The shift has coincided with major legislative changes such as creation of the Opportunity Scholarship program and elimination of the state cap on the number of charter schools.

‘We are failing our public schools’

Both the N.C. School Boards Association and the N.C. Association of Educators have recently launched statewide campaigns to build support for public education.

NCAE has its new “ We Love Public Schools” campaign .

The School Boards Association has put up billboards promoting its “Public Education Does the Public Good” campaign. The campaign’s website points to concerns such as how North Carolina is 42nd in the nation in school funding and 36th in average teacher pay.

“Our public schools aren’t failing,” the website says. “We are failing our public schools.

“The debate has become whether to support public schools or some alternative. But that is a false choice because no matter what type of education makes sense for your family, thriving public schools lift us all.”