How NC’s universal voucher program is changing the way private schools operate
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- Voucher students were majority in most voucher-accepting private schools.
- State has distributed a record $533.6M this school year in vouchers.
- Many private schools now encourage or require families to apply for vouchers.
North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship program has exploded in growth with many private schools either encouraging or requiring families to apply for a taxpayer-funded voucher to help cover tuition costs.
A News & Observer analysis of state data shows that Opportunity Scholarship students accounted for the majority of the enrollment in at least 520 of the state’s 930 private schools last school year. The number of voucher students has more than tripled in the past two years since state lawmakers opened the program to all families.
The number of voucher students will rise again this fall as thousands of families apply for a new Opportunity Scholarship. The priority application period for the 2026-27 school year ends at 5 p.m. on March 2.
Go to https://k12.ncseaa.edu/opportunity-scholarship/how-to-apply/ for information on how to apply for an Opportunity Scholarship.
“It’s good to have the choice to be able to choose something different,” Carlye Lunardini, a parent at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School in Wake Forest, said in an interview. “If you know the public school route isn’t a good fit for your child, or you’d rather keep them in a Catholic school route or private school route, I think it’s great that that’s given to you.”
The Opportunity Scholarship Program is now providing more than half a billion dollars a year to the state’s private schools — an amount some say should be going to public schools instead. In February, the State Board of Education and Democratic State Superintendent Mo Green asked the Republican-controlled General Assembly for a moratorium on issuing new vouchers this year.
“A large majority of private school students in North Carolina are getting their tuition paid for or subsidized by the state, which is not required by our state Constitution,” Heather Koons, a spokesperson for Public Schools First NC, said in an interview. “So our North Carolina lawmakers created a budget item that they are voluntarily spending state dollars on private school education, while the Constitution requires them to fund a uniform system of free public schools.”
Explosive growth in voucher program
In 2024, the Opportunity Scholarship Program changed from serving a quarter of the state’s private school enrollment to now a majority of the students. The change was made possible when state lawmakers sharply increased state funding, removed income eligibility limits and allowed students already attending private schools to get vouchers.
Last school year, voucher students accounted for 80,472 of the state’s 135,738 students. The number of voucher students has risen to 105,187 as of February with a record $533.6 million in voucher funds distributed to private schools so far this school year.
State lawmakers have pledged to raise funding for the Opportunity Scholarship program to $875 million a year by 2032.
Voucher students didn’t just become the majority in more than half of the state’s private schools. Voucher students became the majority in most of the 643 schools that accepted voucher money last school year.
Some private schools like Durham Academy still don’t participate in the Opportunity Scholarship Program because of concerns about accepting government funding. But the Opportunity Scholarship program has continued to grow and is accepted by 703 private schools this year.
“North Carolina’s expansion in the last couple of years has been at a higher pace than other states,” .Shelby Doyle, senior vice president of policy and national partnerships at the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, said in an interview. “I think part of that is because of the way the program is structured.”
Schools encourage families to apply for voucher aid
Many private schools marketed the voucher expansion to new and existing families. Once approved, schools are encouraging families to renew their Opportunity Scholarships.
At Thales Academy, which operates 11 private schools in North Carolina, families are encouraged to apply for an Opportunity Scholarship. The number of voucher students at Thales rose nearly 600% last school year.
In one year, voucher students jumped from representing 10% of Thales’ enrollment to 70% last school year. These 3,402 additional voucher students increased the amount of state voucher funding by $15.6 million to $18.7 million last school year.
Kelly Ellis, a spokesperson for Thales Academy, said they do not discuss their enrollment numbers. Thales was founded by conservative businessman Bob Luddy in 2007.
Grace Christian School in Sanford requires families to apply for an Opportunity Scholarship. The expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship program meant Grace Christian went from having half their students receiving a voucher to 94% last school year.
Grace Christian led the state last school year with the most Opportunity Scholarship money received by a single school at $5.1 million. Grace Christian has received $5.7 million so far this school year, but is now behind North Raleigh Christian Academy at $6.2 million and Metrolina Christian Academy in Union County at $5.8 million.
Grace Christian did not return a request for comment from The News & Observer.
The Catholic Diocese of Raleigh and the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte operate 49 schools across the state. Every school is able to customize its own marketing of the Opportunity Scholarship program to best reach families, according to Marcelo Eureste, school superintendent for the Diocese of Raleigh.
“We really worked hard to make sure that all of our parents and our families, our parishioners, our community, understood the Opportunity Scholarship and how to apply for the Opportunity Scholarship,” Catherine Schwarz, principal of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School, said in an interview.
The number of voucher students in both dioceses rose nearly 300%, resulting in a $30 million increase in state funding to $44.6 million last school year. Voucher students went from being 15% of the enrollment at the 49 Catholic schools to accounting for 56% last school year.
“The Opportunity Scholarship has given us the opportunity to expand our reach for families that not only want but deserve a Catholic education,” Eureste said in an interview.
Vouchers help meet demand for religious education
Families have historically mainly used the Opportunity Scholarship program to attend religious schools. Religious schools received 85% of the voucher money and accounted for 84% of the voucher students last school year.
“We are Christ centered, so that is the first thing you’re going to feel when you walk into our campuses,” Eureste said. “Second is that we have strong academics with purpose. And when we talk about purpose, it’s not just graduating students out of our school system, but it’s also getting them ready to serve our community.”
Novel Fonebi initially enrolled her daughter in Durham Public Schools. But she now sends her two children to St. Catherine of Siena to give them the same kind of Christian education she received growing up.
“They’re getting more attention than they would have gotten otherwise from a public school from the teachers,” Fonebi said in an interview. “And without this scholarship, I won’t have had opportunity to pay their tuition here in this school.”
Even though there are no longer income limits to get a voucher, higher scholarship amounts go to families with lower incomes. Next school year, the scholarship amount will range from $3,574 to $7,942 per child.
Blair Seelinger, a parent at St. Catherine of Siena, has become an evangelist for the Opportunity Scholarship program.
“I’ve told even people who I don’t even know, or even people who are not Catholic and want to send their child to a private, faith-based school,” Seelinger said in an interview. “I think it’s that important that we have this opportunity to really take charge of our kids’ education and have that align with our values. So I want to share that with other parents as well.”
Private schools expanding in state
The state’s expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship program has coincided with new private schools opening and some schools announcing tuition increases and major expansion projects.
Private school expansions that have been announced include:
- Grace Christian School is raising money for a $98 million campus expansion, The Rant in Lee County first reported.
- The Catholic Diocese of Raleigh plans to open a high school in Cary in 2028 due to Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh being full.
- Thales Academy plans to open its 10th location in the Triangle, a junior high/high school in northeast Raleigh in 2027.
In addition, the state’s online private school directory lists 971 schools this school year. That’s 41 more than last school year and 220 more schools statewide since 2020
“There is demand for a broader variety of options out there,” said Doyle of the National School Choice Awareness Foundation. “A program like the Opportunity Scholarship can make it possible for private schools to open that wouldn’t have otherwise been able to operate sustainably in the state.”
Schools redirecting financial aid money
The expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship has also impacted how some private schools handle financial aid.
The additional Opportunity Scholarship aid for families is letting schools redirect some of their financial aid to cover other needs, according to Eureste, the school superintendent of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh.
Schools are encouraging families to apply for an Opportunity Scholarship before requesting additional financial assistance., according to Anna Bragg, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Raleigh Schools.
Schwarz, the principal of St. Catherine of Siena, said they had asked families to apply for the Opportunity Scholarship first because the school was spending a lot of money on scholarships. But now Schwarz said the Opportunity Scholarships have taken the burden off of them during tight budgets.
St. Catherine of Siena received $1.2 million in Opportunity Scholarship funds last school year — more than double what it had previously received.
“That (Opportunity) Scholarship has given us more money that now we can offer and buy wonderful curriculum,” Schwarz said. “We’ve just upgraded our math curriculum and our language arts as well. It’s given us more opportunities to enhance and increase our wonderful programs in academics that we already have.”
Some want moratorium on Opportunity Scholarships
Public school supporters are trying — without success — to get state lawmakers to slow down the growth of the Opportunity Scholarship program. A spokesperson for state House Speaker Destin Hall called the State Board of Education’s recent request for a moratorium on voucher expansion “dead on arrival.”
“It’s a windfall for private schools that are wholly unaccountable to the public,” said Koons of Public Schools First NC.
There’s no publicly reported data on how Opportunity Scholarship students are doing on the nationally normed standardized tests they take for getting a voucher, The News & Observer previously reported.
Koons also pointed to how private schools can exclude students based on their religious beliefs, if they’re LGBTQ+ or have special-education needs that the schools don’t serve.
Even though the majority of private school students are receiving an Opportunity Scholarship now, Koons said it’s not too late to roll back the voucher program. She said the state could grandfather in the existing voucher students while making changes such as reinstating income eligibility limits for families of new Opportunity Scholarship students.
“The fact that we do not have income limits and that billionaires can qualify for a voucher makes no sense when you think about appropriate use of public dollars and public services,” Koons said. “They can roll it back in a way that’s not going to disrupt people too much. Our state should focus on using public dollars to the benefit of the public, and that is for public education.”
But Mike Woods, head of school at Wake Christian Academy in Raleigh, said public schools and private schools should be working together to help meet the diverse needs of the state’s students.
“There’s a lot more choices, and that’s a good thing, because children are not cookie-cutter,” Woods said in an interview. “Children are unique. They’re created in the image of God, and they’re unique and special. And so we’re always looking at how we can better meet their needs.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2026 at 5:45 AM with the headline "How NC’s universal voucher program is changing the way private schools operate."
