Black, Hispanic students lead growth in North Carolina charter school enrollment

Black and Hispanic students are driving North Carolina’s charter school enrollment growth, which ranked third in the nation since 2019 in a new report released this week.

The Believing in Public Education analysis from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools scrutinized public charter and district school enrollment trends between 2019 and 2023.

The report found North Carolina’s charter school enrollment increased from 118,597 in 2019 to 140,905 by 2023, a jump of 18.8%. The 22,308 students added over the four years outpaces all states but Texas and Florida.

A demographic breakdown illustrates that Black and Hispanic students enrolled in North Carolina charter schools exceeded the state’s overall increase, with 20.5% more Black students and 36.9% more Hispanic students.

The boost from minority students stands in contrast to a more than 2% decline in Black student enrollment, and a 6% increase in Hispanic student enrollment in traditional public schools over the same time frame.

Total enrollment in North Carolina’s traditional public schools declined by 2.9%, according to the report.

“North Carolina has embraced the idea that parents deserve a choice in their children’s schooling, and parents are responding. Importantly, the state’s charter movement also continues to diversify as it grows, as this report makes clear,” Lindalyn Kakadeis, executive director of the North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools, said in a statement.

“Public charter schools offer something different, from innovative curricula to concentrations in STEM, the arts, and more – representing an appealing option for families across demographic groups.”

Nationally, charter schools gained 300,411 students, an increase of about 9%, since 2019, while district traditional public schools have not recovered from the 1.5 million students, or 3.5%, who left during the pandemic.

Black students accounted for 40,658 of those gained by charter schools nationally, a boost of 6.26%, compared to 212,489 Black students, or 4.68%, who left traditional public schools between 2019 and 2023.

More than 150,000 Hispanic students enrolled in charters over the same time frame, an increase of nearly 14%, while traditional public schools gained 35,669 Hispanic students, an increase of 0.33%, according to the report.

“Enrollment data is an indicator worth examining – these data clearly show how national K-12 public school enrollment is shifting and it is clear that charter schools in many states are growing vibrantly following the COVID pandemic, while the same is not true for district public schools,” Drew Jacobs, senior director for the National Alliance and report co-author, said in a statement.

“Families seized the opportunity to select educational options that work better for their students, including charter schools,” he said. “The result of continued charter enrollment growth and district enrollment loss has held steady over several years.”

Overall, charter school enrollment in the U.S. stood at 3.6 million students in the 2022-23 school year, while the total enrolled in traditional public schools was nearly 42 million, according to the alliance report.