For scores of North Carolina students, it’s back to school time. As they board buses and clamber into carpools, where are they headed? If recent enrollments hold steady, most — 1.4 million — are pulling up to public schools. A sizeable minority is en route to private schools. And record numbers aren’t leaving home at all, instead settling in for lessons with Mom or Dad.
Newly released 2009-10 enrollment data from the state Division of Non-Public Education reveal a reconfigured education landscape in North Carolina. Shifts aren’t seismic — yet. But they do reveal how powerfully economics and culture impact parents’ choices about education.
For the first time since 2004, private enrollments have fallen: in 2009-10, some 96,000 students attended state private schools, a 2 percent dip from the year before.
Given current economic woes, this is not surprising. Indeed, Linda Nelson, executive director of the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools (representing 40 percent of the state’s private school students), links the drop-off to “economic factors, job losses” and the first look at enrollment data following “the major stock market debacle in October 2008.”
Why wasn’t the drop precipitous? Private education, maintains Nelson, remains resilient even in a struggling economy. Data show she’s right: a 2009 analysis of previous recessions by Catherine Rampell of The New York Times found private school enrollment was not “terribly sensitive to the overall business cycle.”
Why? Parents will go to great lengths to stretch budgets and pinch pennies to keep children in schools they love. Schools are digging deep, too: many independent schools, says Nelson, “have increased financial aid budgets during the last two years by 30 to 50 percent.”
Perhaps more remarkable is the finding that homeschooling numbers are soaring. Homeschooling generally requires considerable financial sacrifice, as one parent forgoes or greatly reduces labor force participation. Yet last year, more than 81,000 North Carolina students were homeschooled — an all-time high, and an almost 200 percent increase over the past decade.
Homeschooling soon may outpace private schooling statewide. In 72 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, it already does. This is due to homeschooling’s explosive growth, and the fact that private schools are often clustered in populous, urban counties; 12 North Carolina counties have no private schools.
Why is homeschooling going gangbusters? Parents are clamoring for alternatives to public school. And homeschooling, once relegated to the educational fringes, has become a mainstream cultural phenomenon.
Emboldened by homeschooling’s popularity and prevalence, families are taking the plunge. Says Kelli Schaad, a 10-year homeschooling veteran, “You’re more apt to try homeschooling if you have friends who are doing it, or if you see other people doing it and being successful.”
What about the million-plus students in public school? Many are well-served, but others are not, and lack the means to do anything about it. One way to help these cash-strapped families would be by offering an education tax credit. Such credits typically take two forms: taxpayers or businesses receive a tax credit for donations to scholarship organizations assisting needy families; or parents receive a tax credit for education expenses.
This fall, Georgia parents have lined up to take advantage of tax credit legislation passed in 2008; a number of other states also offer tax credits. In North Carolina, an education tax credit bill failed to win during the recent legislative session. That’s a shame. Not only would struggling families benefit, the bill’s fiscal note projects annual savings of $50 million in state and county dollars.
In trying economic times, what’s not to like about that?
Kristen Blair is a North Carolina Education Alliance Fellow.