- The Opportunity Scholarship program (OSP) and charter schools both continue to garner significant support, yet support for each has declined over the past two years
- Voters favor allowing businesses or county governments to donate funds to OSP but are split on whether to allow the state to provide funds to help with capital costs
- A plurality of respondents were unsure how much funding public schools should receive per student, and voters identified teacher shortages as the most challenging issue facing K–12 education in North Carolina
It’s National School Choice Week. For the past several years, the John Locke Foundation has commissioned a school choice poll to get a snapshot of how likely voters in North Carolina think about school choice issues. See this year’s poll results and crosstabs here and here, respectively.
What did we learn from this year’s results? Once again, results confirm that North Carolinians support not only the idea of parental choice but also the current programs that help make that idea a reality. Support for school choice may be fueled in part by growing discontent with the public schools, as dissatisfaction with the quality of local public schools is rising. Yet there may be some growing pains. Support for charter schools may be sliding, and voters seem split on whether to provide state aid to charter schools for land or buildings.
A review of some of the poll’s key results and crosstabs is instructive.
North Carolinians Are Growing More Dissatisfied with Local Public Schools
More than 55 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the quality of education that K–12 students receive in local schools. That’s an increase of more than 7 percentage points from last year. About one-third of respondents (33 percent) said they were completely or somewhat satisfied, and 12 percent were unsure. Last year, 21 percent of respondents reported being unsure.
Comparing Satisfaction with Quality of K–12 Education, Jan. 2024 to Jan. 2025

Satisfaction with local schools was lowest in rural areas (28 percent) and highest in urban areas (42 percent). It’s worth noting that satisfaction in urban areas was up 16 percentage points over last year. Interestingly, 60 percent of teachers said they were dissatisfied with the quality of education. Most of those teachers (34 percent) classified themselves as somewhat dissatisfied.
Most Respondents Say Parents Should Determine Where a Child Attends School
Seventy-two percent of respondents said that a child’s parents or guardians should determine where he or she attends school. Although the response is down 5 percentage points from last year, support has been strong (in the seventies or low eighties) for the last several years. These consistently high numbers are a resounding affirmation for parental choice. Parents/guardians was the most popular choice regardless of respondents’ age, race, political background, or region. Also worth noting is that 71 percent of teachers said that parents or guardians should determine where a child attends school.
The next most popular answer was the local board of education, with 14 percent of respondents saying the school board should decide where a child attends school. Just 8 percent of Republicans chose local school boards, compared with 22 percent of Democrats and 13 percent of Independents.
Picking the Right School: Who Do North Carolinians Trust Most?

More Than a Third of Voters Favor Abolishing the U.S. Department of Education
When asked whether they favored abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, 35 percent of respondents said they would support the move, 51 percent said they would oppose it, and 15 percent were unsure.
Support for the measure was strongest among Republicans, who favored it by 60 percent to 22 percent. Only 11 percent of Democrats supported the measure, while 81 percent opposed it. The measure was supported by 31 percent of Independents and opposed by 53 percent.
Views on Abolishing the U.S. Department of Education

Opportunity Scholarships Have Strong Support
Although support for the Opportunity Scholarship program has declined slightly from last year (by 3.2 percentage points), support remains strong. Approximately 61 percent of respondents supported OSP, while 27 percent opposed it, and 12 percent were unsure.
Views on the Opportunity Scholarship Program, 2023–2025

Sixty percent of parents supported OSP, while 29 percent opposed it. Additionally, most teachers supported OSP (57 percent supportive to 32 percent opposed). Also notable is that black voters supported OSP at higher levels than white voters (by a measure of 63 percent to 57 percent).
Support for Charter Schools Is Strong but Sliding
Support for charter schools continues to be strong, with 60 percent of respondents supporting them and 30 percent opposing. Support levels, however, are down almost 9 points from 2023.
Support for Charter Schools for Last Three Years

Support for charter schools is highest among Republicans (73 percent of whom supported), followed by Independents (60 percent) and Democrats (46 percent). Overall support for charters has increased (up 6 percentage points) in urban areas, while opposition increased elsewhere. Support for charters is strongest in central North Carolina. All income levels, however, show majority support for charter schools.
North Carolinians Favor Electing All Members of the State Board of Education
By better than a 2-to-1 margin — 63 percent to 23 percent, with 14 percent unsure — voters said they would support a measure to elect all members of the State Board of Education.
The measure garnered widespread support among both sexes, as well as all ages, regions, political ideologies, and races. For example, the measure achieved majority support among conservatives (78 percent), moderates (52 percent), and liberals (52 percent). It enjoyed strong support in all geographical regions of the state with the lowest levels of support in Raleigh. Support by type of region was also strong (65 percent in rural areas, 62 percent in suburban areas, and 58 percent in urban areas). Teachers favored the measure even more than parents.
School Funding
How much financial support do respondents think K–12 schools should receive per public-school student? A plurality of voters (37 percent) were “unsure.” Twenty-four percent chose $20,000 or more, 8 percent chose between $15,000 and $20,000, 13 percent chose between $10,000 and $15,000, 12 percent chose between $5,000 and $10,000, and 6 percent chose less than $5,000.
The uncertainty and variety of answers reflect a lack of understanding about how much North Carolina spends on education. There was no monopoly on uncertainty, with pluralities of conservatives (43 percent), moderates (34 percent), and liberals (30 percent) responding “unsure.” Forty-three percent of white respondents and 20 percent of black respondents were “unsure.” Twenty-seven percent of both teachers and parents also responded this way.
North Carolinians Say Funding Should Be Based on Student Needs, Not Formulas
Results suggest low support for the current system of funding schools, which is primarily formula-based. By a ratio of almost 4-to-1, 61 percent of respondents favored tying funding to student needs, while 16 percent expressed support for current formulas. Twenty-three percent were unsure.
Tying funding to student needs was the majority choice across all subgroups. The idea was strongly supported across the political spectrum: by Republicans (70 percent), Democrats (54 percent), and Independents (57 percent). There was a 20-point difference in support among white and black respondents (57 percent to 77 percent, respectively).
Other Results
• Most respondents supported allowing students to transfer to a public school of their choice, rather than one based on residential address
• Voters were evenly split on whether to allow charter schools to use state funding to obtain land or buildings
• Voters supported allowing businesses and county governments to donate or appropriate funds for the Opportunity Scholarship by a wide margin
• Voters differed on the purpose of education: About one-third said it’s mastering core academic subjects, while younger voters said it’s to develop independent thinkers
• When asked what the biggest challenge facing public schools is, a plurality of likely voters said teacher shortages
Conclusion
North Carolinians, fueled by a growing dissatisfaction with local public schools and a strong conviction that parents should control their children’s education, strongly support school choice. Despite these facts, support for the Opportunity Scholarship program and charter schools has declined over the last two years. Following a strong preference to tie funding to students’ needs would improve transparency, fairness, and accountability in education funding. Lastly, differing answers about the purpose of education indicate a healthy democracy, provide fuel for the creation of schools, and are an argument for educational pluralism and — most importantly — school choice.