This marks the third year in a row that enrollment in traditional public schools has declined while enrollment in private, charter, and home schools has been on the rise. 1 in 5 North Carolina students do not attend a traditional public school.
John Locke Foundation’s Terry Stoops offered comments on these numbers for The News and Observer in this article. He believes the number of students opting out of traditional public schools will continue to rise as North Carolina embraces privatization and offers parents choices in education.
“I’m under no illusion to think we’ll ever have the majority of students in schools of choice,” Stoops said. “But I don’t think the growth is done. I think we’ll see another decade of steady growth in enrollment at schools of choice.”
“Parents are choosing with their feet, and it’s something that should be embraced,” Stoops said. “We should continue to welcome the fact that parents are now becoming more involved in their children’s education than they’ve ever been before due to the fact that they have more choices than ever before.”
Read the rest of the article here and see what measures North Carolina has taken to offer parents more choices in their children’s education.