{"id":3077,"date":"2026-07-09T17:05:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T17:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=3077"},"modified":"2026-07-09T17:05:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T17:05:41","slug":"most-nc-private-school-students-now-get-a-taxpayer-funded-voucher-to-pay-costs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=3077","title":{"rendered":"Most NC private school students now get a taxpayer-funded voucher to pay costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly three-quarters of North Carolina\u2019s private school students are now getting a taxpayer-funded voucher to help pay for their tuition costs, according to an analysis of state data.<\/p>\n

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The data indicates that 74.2% of North Carolina\u2019s 143,998 private school students received an Opportunity Scholarship during the 2025-26 school year. Only a quarter of the state\u2019s private school students were receiving a voucher two years ago, before the program was sharply expanded by state lawmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is discouraging to see the continued growth in the unaccountable private school sector, where tax dollars fund schools that discriminate, lack transparency, are not required to publicly reveal student achievement data, and in some cases, limit admission to church members,\u201d Heather Koons, director of research and communications for Public Schools First NC, said in an interview Wednesday.<\/p>\n

But school choice advocates say the continued growth in the Opportunity Scholarship program should be hailed as a win for families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a good thing that students can be in an environment that\u2019s the best environment for them, and in a place where parents know that it will reflect their values, and that the children will be learning,\u201d Bob Luebke, director of the John Locke Foundation\u2019s Center for Effective Education, said in an interview Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The state has been giving Opportunity Scholarships to help families cover private school costs since 2014. The program was initially promoted by Republican lawmakers as a way to help low-income families pay for private schools to escape low-performing public schools.<\/p>\n

But starting in the 2024-25 school year, lawmakers significantly expanded the Opportunity Scholarship program by increasing funding and opening eligibility to all families. The voucher program has tripled in size from 32,549 students in the 2023-24 school year to 106,863 students as of June 2026.<\/p>\n

Most of the expansion has come from existing private school families applying for a voucher for the first time. Many private schools encouraged or in some cases required families to apply for an Opportunity Scholarship.<\/p>\n

The voucher expansion has allowed some private schools to<\/a> raise tuition, reduce the amount they spend on financial assistance and embark on expansion programs.<\/p>\n

For next school year, Opportunity Scholarship recipients will receive between<\/a> $3,574 and $7,942 per child depending on their family income.<\/p>\n

Families earning the lowest incomes still account for the majority of the voucher recipients and funding. Families who would have made too much money to previously qualify for a voucher accounted for 45% of the recipients and 34% of the funding.<\/p>\n

Read more Most NC private school students now get a taxpayer-funded voucher to pay costs<\/a><\/p>\n

The voucher program has expanded so much that Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek is auditing<\/a> the Opportunity Scholarship program.<\/p>\n

The amount awarded for vouchers has tripled from $185.6 million in the 2023-24 school year to $589 million for the 2025-26 school year.<\/p>\n

The newly adopted state budget continues the pledge lawmakers have made to raise funding for the Opportunity Scholarship program to $825 million a year<\/a> by 2032.<\/p>\n

Luebke said it\u2019s a good thing for taxpayers that they\u2019re paying for students to attend private schools instead of public schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they weren\u2019t in private schools, they\u2019d be paying for the education in a public school, which is about $13,100 right now per student,\u201d Luebke said. \u201cBut the state is actually saving money by using the scholarship, and having a student enroll in a private school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luebke pointed to how lawmakers reinvested the $35.8 million difference<\/a> between what the state spent on vouchers versus what it would have provided in state funding for 12,252 former public school students. The $35.8 million went to bonuses for school cafeteria workers and custodians, training for middle school teachers and development of a new K-8 math curriculum.<\/p>\n

But Koons said that $35.8 million is a \u201csmall drop\u201d of what public schools should be getting. Koons said private schools are getting hundreds of millions a dollar a year in voucher funding that should be going to public schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny student that was already in private school and became eligible because of the universal vouchers, that funding should go to public schools,\u201d Koons said. \u201cThat was a new line item in the budget that again is a private use of public funds and is inappropriate given the lack of transparency and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 11:52 AM<\/span> with the headline “Most NC private school students now get a taxpayer-funded voucher to pay costs.” <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Nearly three-quarters of NC private school students received taxpayer-funded vouchers in 2025-26, prompting debates over funding priorities and school oversight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nMost NC private school students now get a taxpayer-funded voucher to pay costs - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=3077\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Most NC private school students now get a taxpayer-funded voucher to pay costs - 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