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As 2025-26 applications open, big bump in number of vouchers first seen in data

The number of vouchers is up 46,823 since the expansion of school choice, according to data released on Feb. 3, 2025. Currently, 79,372 students receive vouchers.

In 2023, the N.C. General Assembly passed a state budget that included what Republicans called the “largest expansion of school choice” in 10 years.

Following the expansion, the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA) received 69,511 eligible applications for Opportunity Scholarships by the deadline on March 1, 2024. In total, 15,805 new scholarships were offered in spring 2024.

NCSEAA is the state agency designated by law to administer K-12 scholarship programs, including Opportunity Scholarships. Opportunity Scholarships are state-funded vouchers that families can use to pay for eligible private schools. You can see the current list of eligible private schools here.

In November 2024, the General Assembly overrode then-Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of its mini budget, providing an additional $463.5 million toward vouchers for this fiscal year to clear the waitlist for students.

On Dec. 3, 2024, with the additional funding, NCSEAA made offers to more than 54,000 new students on the Opportunity Scholarship waitlist for the 2024-25 school year, according to a press release. Offers that were not accepted by Dec. 27, 2024 expired.

NCSEAA began disbursing funds for the fall 2024 semester (some of the funding was retroactive) as well as for the spring 2025 semester in January 2025. Students don’t show up in the data until both the school and parent certify that the student is enrolled and attending the school.

Data on the NCSEAA website indicates that the number of vouchers disbursed has increased since school choice expansion from 32,549 as of June 30, 2024; to 34,798 as of Oct. 1, 2024; to 37,143 as of Nov. 4, 2024; to 37,329 as of Dec. 2, 2024; to 37,447 as of Jan. 2, 2025; then finally to 79,372 as of Feb. 3, 2025.

Of the 15,805 awards initially distributed to students in Tier 1 and Tier 2 (the lower income tiers), through Dec. 2, 2024, there was an increase of 4,780 vouchers, indicating that about 30% of those students moved through the whole process from receipt of the award through disbursement of funding.

In the release of the February data, you can see that of the approximately 70,000 awards offered in the 2024-25 cycle (15,805 in the initial spring rounds and then more than 54,000 in the December round), across all income levels about 67% moved through the whole process.

If you compare the June 2024 to the February 2025 data, you can see that the number of white students has increased from 63% to 74% and the number of non-Hispanic students has increased from 80% to 88%, while the number of Black students has decreased from 19% to 11%.

While the top 10 counties impacted has not changed between November 2024 (the last time EdNC analyzed county data) and February 2025, the order has. Wake County is now at the top of the list instead of Cumberland.

  1. Wake | from 2,580 in November 2024 to 10,466 thru Feb. 3, 2025
  2. Mecklenburg | from 2,597 to 7,788
  3. Guilford | from 2,040 to 4,231
  4. Cumberland | from 2,653 to 3,826
  5. Forsyth | from 1,601 to 3,319
  6. Union | from 1,051 to 2,794
  7. Durham | from 1,039 to 2,015
  8. Gaston | from 1,018 to 1,967
  9. Buncombe | from 939 to 1,942
  10. Onslow | from 1,331 to 1,853

Here is how the number of students are now distributed across grade levels:

Courtesy of NCSEAA

There is not data yet on how many of these students were already in private school. For those students who had been attending public school, the school districts, whose revenue is based on the number of students served, will lose the full per pupil expenditure across local, state, and federal funding for these students.

The data

Here is the 2023-24 report to the legislature, where you can see data through June 30, 2024.

Here is NCSEAA’s data on the program. Note there is a tab in the upper left of the map for 2024-25 county data, and a tab to the right of that for 2024-25 state data. On either tab, you can download an Excel spreadsheet, which includes data on students by grade, race, and ethnicity; funds by county and funds by school; and students by county.

Here is the data for October 2024.

Here is the data for November 2024.

Here is the data for December 2024.

Here is the data for January 2025.

Here is the data for February 2025.

Here you can see the growth in vouchers over time:

Data is released as the 2025-26 application opens

The priority application period to apply for Opportunity and ESA+ Scholarships for the 2025-26 school year opened at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025 and lasts until 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, 2025, according to a press release.

NCSEAA launched a new website in January with feedback from parents to improve the application process.

EdNC will be following whether school districts proactively communicate with families this month as they consider whether to apply.

Leadership changes at NCSEAA

Andrea Poole, the executive director of NCSEAA, is moving to serve as chief of staff at the UNC System. Mary Shuping, currently the director of governmental and external affairs, will also be serving as the interim executive director.

Mebane Rash

Mebane Rash is the CEO and editor-in-chief of EducationNC.