New reports from the North Carolina state government reveal a consistent rise in private and home school enrollments year-over-year.
The NC Division of Non-Public Education reports that for the 2023-2024 academic year, K-12 private school enrollment reached 131,230 students, while homeschool students numbered 157,642. This reflects a 3.2% increase in private school enrollment and a 3% increase in homeschool enrollment from the previous school year.
The state’s private schools are divided into two main categories: Independent schools and religious schools. There are 308 schools with 38,011 students in the independent category, while 573 schools are religiously affiliated with 93,219 students enrolled. The gender distribution is nearly even, with 65,875 male students—or 50.2%—and 65,355 female students—or 49.8%.
“The new gains to private school and home school enrollment in North Carolina confirm what has become abundantly clear since the pandemic: parents want educational options for their children,” said Dr. Robert Luebke, director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation. “This can only be a good thing as parents are empowered to find the best school that fits the needs and talents of their children.”
The state government reports also broke down private school enrollment by county. Wake County leads with a substantial 22,413 students, followed by Mecklenburg County with 20,965 students. Other counties with notable enrollments include Guilford at 7,156, Cumberland at 5,970, and Forsyth at 5,743.
Conversely, several counties such as Alleghany, Graham, Perquimans, and Washington reported zero private school students.
On the homeschool front, some notable counties with the highest numbers of home-educated students include Mecklenburg with 7,316 homeschools, Wake with 9,412, Union with 3,743, Buncombe with 3,031, and Forsyth with 3,428.
Similarly to private schools, NC’s home education community includes both independent and religious homeschools. The latest data reveals a nearly even split, with religious homeschools slightly outnumbering independent ones, account for nearly 53% of the total.
In comparison, traditional public schools in North Carolina enroll approximately 1.35 million students, while public charter schools have around 146,000 students. Despite the overall growth in the state’s population, enrollment in traditional public schools has slightly declined since the pandemic. Meanwhile, charter schools, private schools, and homeschools continue to rise in popularity.
The state’s private school landscape is poised to grow even more in the coming years due to a dramatic expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship Program, a voucher that allows families to select a private school education for their children, with each scholarship valued between $3,360 and $7,468 annually.
During the short session, lawmakers considered a budget adjustment that would grow the annual funding in the Opportunity Scholarship grant fund reserve to $585 million for the 2025-2026 school year. But state lawmakers left Raleigh without reaching an agreement on adjustments to the spending plan.