Number of NC parents choosing homeschool for kids hit post-pandemic high last year
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- North Carolina homeschool enrollment rose to 165,243 in 2024–25, a post-pandemic high
- Homeschool market share grew 3% over decade as public school share fell to 76%
- Parents cite personalized instruction, religious values and moral concerns prompting exits
Homeschooling is once again on the rise in North Carolina, as families seek personalized education and an escape from what they view as the “moral decline” of public schools, parents say.
North Carolina had an estimated 165,243 students enrolled in home schools during the 2024-25 school year, the highest number since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The total number of homeschooled students in North Carolina rose sharply during the 2020-21 school year to 179,900, up from 149,173 the previous year. That was the first full school year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many schools shifted entirely to remote instruction. Numbers dropped after traditional schools returned to in-person classes in the following years but remained higher than before.
The number of homeschooled students in the state during the 2024-25 school year was 55% higher than 10 years prior. Meanwhile, the overall public school population in the state increased by just 1.2% over the same period. Totals from the 2025-26 school year are not yet available from the North Carolina Department of Administration.
The vast majority of students in the state – about 76% – are still enrolled in traditional public schools, which don’t include charter schools. However, public education’s market share continues to slip, down from 84% in 2014. Data released last month by the NC Department of Public Instruction indicates that enrollment declined in 105 of the state’s 115 public school districts last fall, including all but one Charlotte-area district.
Over the last 10 years, families have increasingly opted for alternative education options like charter, private and home schools, with their market share rising by 4%, 1% and 3% respectively.
Student performance
Tracie Marsh is a regional liaison for North Carolinians for Home Education. She also runs a home school group of 130 families in Maiden, which is northwest of Charlotte on the Catawba-Lincoln county line. Most parents, she said, leave public schools because they’re unsatisfied with the quality of education their children receive.
“A lot of it is that North Carolina schools aren’t performing well in a lot of different counties,” Marsh told The Charlotte Observer. “Parents are pulling them out to give them a higher quality of education and more personalized education.”
NC public schools are still trying to bring student proficiency rates up to pre-pandemic levels, though there have been gains statewide over the last three years. During the 2024-25 school year, 69% of the state’s schools received an A, B or C grade from NCDPI, up around two percentage points from the prior year. Still, just around 55% of students passed last year’s state exams, below the pre-pandemic rate of 59%.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in particular saw significant growth last school year, with 79% of schools earning an A, B or C grade from the state – an increase of 11% from the prior school year.
It’s difficult to compare homeschooled students’ performance directly to public schools because they don’t take the same state-mandated tests public school students do.
In North Carolina, homeschooled students are required to take a nationally standardized test each year and report the results to the state. They can choose which test to administer from a set of options – but the NC standardized test every public school student in the state takes each year, and which determines school performance grades, is not one of them.
North Carolina has the fourth-highest percentage of homeschooled children in the nation, according to 2024 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Alaska, Delaware and Vermont top the list. Jessica Frierson, media director for North Carolinians for Home Education, said part of the reason is the flexibility North Carolina gives home schools.
“North Carolina ranks among the top states for homeschooling because it provides families both freedom and structure,” Frierson told The Observer in an email. “Parents can design a school calendar that works for them, select a curriculum that fits their child’s learning style and use outside resources as needed.”
NC home schools are required to register as a non-public school with the state. While home school teachers are required to have at least a high school diploma and classes must operate on a regular schedule for nine months of the year, home schools do not have to comply with the same calendar and teacher qualification requirements NC public schools do.
Religion and “moral decline”
The majority of registered home schools in North Carolina – about 53% – were designated as “religious” during the 2024-25 school year. Marsh said part of the reason parents choose homeschooling is so they can educate their children in a way that aligns with their faith.
“There’s one reason that’s mainly religious ... People are pulling their kids out so they can give them the moral values that they feel are lacking in the public school system right now,” she said. “There’s the moral decline of public education, and a lot of parents, especially in elementary, don’t want their children to be kind of indoctrinated.”
Marsh cited sex education as an area that parents want more control over. North Carolina law currently stipulates that every local public school district must provide a “reproductive health and safety education program” beginning in seventh grade.
“We feel like, whether we agree with it or not, it should happen later on, in high school,” Marsh said. “It’s things like that.”
Meanwhile, for families seeking a religious education for their children, homeschooling is often a more financially accessible option than private schools, Marsh said.
“The nice thing about homeschooling is if the mom’s working in the evening, and the dad’s working in the morning, there’s flexibility for either parent to be able to teach their child at home,” she said. “We have a lot of homeschool families in which both parents are working in North Carolina.”
However, families who choose to homeschool are not eligible to receive state-funded school vouchers through the Opportunity Scholarship program like families with children in private school. Through the program, families of all income levels are able to receive a state-funded subsidy between around $3,400 to $7,500 per year toward the cost of private school tuition.
This story was originally published January 6, 2026 at 11:07 AM with the headline "Number of NC parents choosing homeschool for kids hit post-pandemic high last year."
