Public education in North Carolina

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K-12 education in North Carolina

Education facts

State superintendent: Mo Green

Number of students: 1,442,736

Number of teachers: 93,665

Teacher/pupil ratio: 1:15.4

Number of school districts: 120

Number of schools: 2,475

Graduation rate: 87%

Per-pupil spending: $9,958

See also

North Carolina Department of Education • List of school districts in North Carolina • North Carolina • School boards portal

Public education in the United States Public education in North Carolina Glossary of education terms

Note: These statistics are mainly from government sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics. Figures given were the most recent as of October 2022.

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Note: The statistics on this page are mainly from government sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics. Figures given were the most recent available as of June 2015, with school years noted in the text or footnotes.

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The North Carolina public school system (prekindergarten-grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 North Carolina had 1,507,864 students enrolled in a total of 2,577 schools in 236 school districts. While the national ratio of teachers to students was 1:16, in North Carolina there were 97,308 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15.5 students. There was roughly one administrator for every 288 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average North Carolina spent $8,312 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it 45th in the nation. The state's graduation rate was 80 percent in 2012. This was the Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate reported to the United States Department of Education for all students in 2011-2012.

State agencies

State Education Departments

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See also

North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction List of school districts in North Carolina Public education in North Carolina School board elections portal

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is in charge of carrying out the state's preschool through 12th grade public school laws as well as the policies set by the State Board of Education. The Department of Public Instruction is led by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. June Atkinson was first elected to the post in 2008.

The North Carolina State Board of Education has 13 members, including the lieutenant governor and the state treasurer. The other 11 members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the North Carolina State Legislature. Eight represent each of the eight education districts, and three represent the state at-large.

The mission statement of the North Carolina State Board of Education reads:

“

The guiding mission of the North Carolina State Board of Education is that every public school student will graduate from high school, globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and prepared for life in the 21st Century.

”

Common Core

Common Core, or the Common Core State Standards Initiative, is an American education initiative that outlines quantifiable benchmarks in English and mathematics at each grade level from kindergarten through high school. The North Carolina State Board of Education and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction adopted these standards on June 3, 2010. The standards were fully implemented during the 2012-2013 school year.

In July of 2014 North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R) signed a bill into law that required the state's Common Core curriculum standards be re-written. The bill was passed by the North Carolina State Senate on July 10, 2014, and by the North Carolina House of Representatives on July 16, 2014. Common Core standards were to remain in place until the re-written standards were completed.

As of July 2015 no revised standards had been published. North Carolina lawmakers, educators and parents have debated exactly how much the Common Core standards need to be revised. Supporters of Common Core believe that only a few changes are needed, while opponents wish to see the standards scrapped completely to make way for different, state-designed standards.

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how North Carolina compares to three neighboring states with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil, and the number of administrators per pupil. Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional Comparison
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
North Carolina	2,577	236	1,507,864	97,308	1:15.5	1:287.8	$8,312
South Carolina	1,223	105	727,186	46,782	1:15.5	1:281.1	$8,986
Tennessee	1,802	140	999,693	66,382	1:15.1	1:293.2	$8,242
Virginia	2,170	221	1,257,883	90,832	1:13.8	1:313.2	$10,364
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	1:295.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12 U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in North Carolina as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic Information for North Carolina's K-12 Public School System
Ethnicity	Students	State Percentage	United States Percentage**
American Indian	22,098	1.47%	1.10%
Asian	38,019	2.52%	4.68%
African American	397,489	26.36%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl. Students	1,293	0.09%	0.42%
Hispanic	203,503	13.50%	24.37%
White	790,132	52.40%	51.21%
Two or More	55,330	3.67%	2.54%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the U.S.

A plurality of students in North Carolina attend rural schools. This is the same for students in South Carolina and Tennessee, but students in Virginia are more likely to attend suburban schools than rural schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2011 - 2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural Schools
North Carolina	25.9%	14.1%	11.6%	48.4%
South Carolina	17.4%	24.3%	14.3%	44.0%
Tennessee	29.8%	16.1%	14.0%	40.2%
Virginia	23.0%	38.8%	6.9%	31.3%
U.S. average	28.9%	34.0%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). North Carolina had a higher percentage of students score at or above proficient in math and reading in fourth grade and eighth grade compared to South Carolina and Tennessee. Virginia, however, had a higher percentage of students score at or above proficient than North Carolina.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
North Carolina	45	36	35	33
South Carolina	35	31	28	29
Tennessee	40	28	34	33
Virginia	47	38	43	36
U.S. average	41	34	34	34

NAEP assessment data for all students 2012-2013
<pbars size=500x300 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Math - Grade 4,Math - Grade 8,Reading - Grade 4, Reading - Grade 8 NC,45,36,35,33 SC,35,31,28,29 TN,40,28,34,33 VA,47,38,43,36 U.S. average,41,34,34,34 </pbars>

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the U.S.

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for North Carolina and surrounding states.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT Composite, 2012		Average SAT Composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
North Carolina	80%	Third	21.9	20%	1479	62%
South Carolina	75%	Fourth	20.2	57%	1436	64%
Tennessee	87%	First	19.7	100%	1709	8%
Virginia	83%	Second	22.4	25%	1528	71%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both SY 2010–11 and SY 2011–12. The event dropout rate for North Carolina was higher than the national average at 3.9 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and lower than the national average at 3.1 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in North Carolina

North Carolina has the second largest state virtual school in the United States. Other school choice options in the state include charter schools, special education scholarship grants, opportunity scholarships, homeschooling and private schools.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: North Carolina state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in FY 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), the state spent approximately 23.2 percent of its fiscal year 2012 budget on elementary and secondary education. This is up 0.8 percentage points, a 3.6 percent increase in the share of the budget from fiscal year 2008, when the state spent 22.4 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education. Just over half of North Carolina's education revenue comes from state funding. Local funding accounts for nearly 34 percent, and federal funding accounts for about 14 percent.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget (2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
North Carolina	23.2%	$8,312	14.12%	52.04%	33.85%
South Carolina	15.9%	$8,986	13.4%	43.45%	43.15%
Tennessee	15.9%	$8,986	13.4%	43.45%	43.15%
Virginia	16%	$10,364	9.9%	37.11%	52.99%
Sources:NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in North Carolina totaled approximately $14.8 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table and chart below present further detail, including revenue sources, for North Carolina and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, FY 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
North Carolina	$2,086,278	$7,690,062	$5,001,904	$14,778,244
South Carolina	$1,051,679	$3,408,719	$3,385,398	$7,845,796
Tennessee	$1,272,825	$3,955,476	$3,417,293	$8,645,594
Virginia	$1,427,301	$5,351,177	$7,639,550	$14,418,028
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777

Public school revenues by source, FY 2011 (as percents)
<pbars size=500x300 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Federal revenue,State revenue,Local revenue NC,14.12,52.04,33.85 SC,13.40,43.45,43.15 TN,14.72,45.75,39.53 VA,9.90,37.11,52.99 U.S. total,12.34,44.09,43.56 </pbars>

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in North Carolina totaled approximately $14.1 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table and chart below present further detail, including expenditure types, for North Carolina and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, FY 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Current expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
North Carolina	$12,335,701	$1,058,530	$675,207	$14,069,438
South Carolina	$6,455,918	$1,018,769	$455,360	$7,930,047
Tennessee	$7,977,696	$661,195	$295,742	$8,934,633
Virginia	$12,964,134	$1,075,067	$425,378	$14,464,579
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Public school expenditures, FY 2011 (as percents)
<pbars size=500x300 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Current expenditures,Capital outlay,Other NC,87.68,7.52,4.80 SC,81.41,12.85,5.74 TN,89.29,7.40,3.31 VA,89.63,7.43,2.94 U.S. total,86.31,8.78,4.90 </pbars>

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the U.S.

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools has declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in North Carolina, the average salary decreased by 14.7 percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
North Carolina	$53,849	$50,010	$46,712	$45,947	-14.7%
South Carolina	$49,308	$50,712	$48,217	$47,924	-2.8%
Tennessee	$49,645	$49,412	$47,866	$48,289	-2.7%
Virginia	$52,947	$53,388	$49,514	$49,869	-5.8%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012, the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. North Carolina ranked 24th overall, or average, which was in the middle tier of five.

The main unions related to the North Carolina school system are the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE), an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA), and AFT North Carolina, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. NCAE is the largest education association in the state.

List of local North Carolina school unions:

• North Carolina Association of Educators
• AFT North Carolina
• AFT Pittsboro
• AFT Kure Beach

Taxpayer-funded lobbying

See also: North Carolina government sector lobbying

The main education government sector lobbying organization is the North Carolina School Boards Association.

Transparency

On January 12, 2009 Governor Beverly Perdue signed North Carolina Executive Order No. 4 (2009) (dead link), which mandated the creation of NC Openbook, a website where information about state grants and contracts would be made available to the public. The site is managed by the Office of State Budget and Management and the Office of Information Technology Services.

Education ballot measures

See also: Education on the ballot and List of North Carolina ballot measures

Ballotpedia has tracked the following statewide ballot measures relating to education.

1. North Carolina Use of Civil Penalties, Forfeitures, and Fines for Public School Maintenance Funding Amendment (2004)
2. North Carolina State Constitution Revisions Amendment (1876)
3. North Carolina Amendment 2, Six-Month School Terms Amendment (1918)
4. North Carolina Escheats Fund for Public College Student Aid Amendment (1970)
5. North Carolina Board of Education Membership Amendment (1944)
6. North Carolina Education Expense Grants and Local School Suspension Votes Amendment (September 1956)

Studies and reports

Quality Counts 2014

See also: Quality Counts 2014 Report

Education Week, a publication that reports on many education issues throughout the country, began using an evaluation system in 1997 to grade each state on various elements of education performance. This system, called Quality Counts, uses official data on performance from each state to generate a report card for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report card in 2014 uses six different categories:

1. Chance for success
2. K-12 achievement
3. Standards, assessments and accountability
4. The teaching profession
5. School finance
6. Transitions and Alignment

Each of these six categories had a number of other elements that received individual scores. Those scores were then averaged and used to determine the final score in each category. Every state received two types of scores for each of the six major categories: A numerical score out of 100 and a letter grade based on that score. Education Week used the score for the first category, "chance for success," as the value for ranking each state and the District of Columbia. The average grade received in the entire country was 77.3, or a C+ average. The country's highest average score was in the category of "standards, assessments and accountability" at 85.3, or a B average. The lowest average score was in "K-12 achievement", at 70.2, or a C- average.

North Carolina received a score of 75.7, or a C average in the "chance for success" category. This was below the national average. The state's highest score was in "standards, assessments and accountability" at 92.8, or an A average. The lowest score was in "school finance" at 67.0, or a D+ average. North Carolina tied for the 10th highest score in the country in the "standards, assessments and accountability" category. The chart below displays the scores of North Carolina and its surrounding states.

Note: Click on a column heading to sort the data.

Public education report cards, 2014
State	Chance for success	K-12 achievement	Standards, assessments and accountability	The teaching profession	School finance	Transitions and Alignment
North Carolina	75.7 (C)	69.8 (C-)	92.8 (A)	77.8 (C+)	67.0 (D+)	85.7 (B)
South Carolina	72.6 (C)	62.6 (D)	94.4 (A)	89.0 (B+)	68.7 (D+)	71.4 (C-)
Tennessee	73.9 (C)	68.8 (D+)	90.0 (A-)	80.3 (B-)	64.5 (D)	92.9 (A)
Virginia	84.8 (B)	74.2 (C)	93.3 (A)	81.9 (B-)	76.1 (C)	85.7 (B)
United States Average	77.3 (C+)	70.2 (C-)	85.3 (B)	72.5 (C)	75.5 (C)	81.1 (B-)
Source: Education Week, "Quality Counts 2014 report cards," accessed February 18, 2015 A full discussion of how these numbers were generated can be found here.

ABCs of School Choice

The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice publishes a comprehensive guide to private school choice programs across the U.S. In its 2014 edition, the Foundation reviewed North Carolina's special education scholarship grants for children with disabilities and the state's opportunity scholarship program. The special education scholarship grants program was launched in 2014 to give vouchers to students with disabilities to attend private school. The Foundation found that though the program was "somewhat strong" on eligibility, funding for the program was "relatively weak," as each student could receive only $6,000 in funding, which was lower than the average per-pupil spending statewide. The state's opportunity scholarship program was also launched in 2014, in order to give private school vouchers to students whose household qualified for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. The Foundation found that the program could be improved in both student eligibility and funding, but the Foundation said that as the program grows, both of those had the potential to grow. The full Friedman Foundation report can be found here.

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term "North + Carolina + Education "

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

North Carolina Education News Feed

See also

• North Carolina state budget and finances
• North Carolina Department of Education
• School choice in North Carolina
• Charter schools in North Carolina
• North Carolina school districts
• North Carolina
• Education Policy in the U.S.

External links

• North Carolina Public Schools
• North Carolina State Board of Education
• North Carolina School Report Cards
• North Carolina Reports and Statistics
• North Carolina State School Ratings by PSK12
• North Carolina School Ratings by Great Schools