NC School Choice: By the Numbers

It’s National School Choice Week. To aid our understanding, here’s a quick snapshot of school choice and trends in North Carolina.

 

	Student Enrollment in Major NC Education Choice Options 2010-11 to 2016-17
	2010-11	Percentage of Total	2016-17	Percentage of Total	Percentage Increase
Traditional Public Schools [i]	1,409,895	86.4 percent	1,428,051	81.8 percent	1.2 percent
Public Charter Schools[ii]	41,238	2.5 percent	90,393	5.1 percent	119.1 percent
Private Schools [iii]	96,229	5.9 percent	97,721	5.6 percent	1.5 percent
Home Schools[iv]	83,609	5.1 percent	127,847	7.3 percent	52.9 percent
Totals	1,630,971		1,744,012

Note: Percentages may not add to one hundred due to rounding.

 

NSCWGraphic1-1

 

Highlights

• Traditional public schools still enroll the overwhelming majority of students (82 percent). However, in recent years that number has been declining.
• Public Charter schools are the fastest growing parental choice option, up 119 percent since 2010-11. Charter schools now enroll over 90,000 students.
• The number of students enrolled in private schools has grown slowly in recent years, reversing several years of decline.
• Private school enrollment gains have been aided by passage of the Opportunity Scholarship and Special Needs Scholarship programs.
• The strong and continued growth of home school enrollment makes it the second most popular educational option, surpassing enrollment of both charter schools and private schools.

 

[i] ADM Enrollment, see: Statistical Profile of the Public Schools of North Carolina, available online at:  http://apps.schools.nc.gov/ords/f?p=145:3:::NO:::

[ii] ADM Enrollment, see: Statistical Profile of the Public Schools of North Carolina, available online at:  http://apps.schools.nc.gov/ords/f?p=145:3:::NO:::

[iii] Data from Directory of Non-Public Schools Statistics for specific years, See: State of North Carolina Private Grade School K-12 Statistics. See: https://ncadmin.nc.gov/citizens/private-school-information/state-north-carolina-private-grade-k-12-school-statistics

[iv] Data from North Carolina Home School Statistical Summary for specific years. Available online at: https://ncadmin.nc.gov/citizens/home-school/non-public-education-resources-stats