The number of home-schooled students declined slightly in North Carolina and Mecklenburg County last year, a new state tally shows.
Almost 153,000 North Carolina students were homeschooled the past school year, compared with more than 163,000 the previous year. That’s a decline of about 5%. But the latest numbers are 7.5% above the last pre-pandemic count, posted in the summer of 2019. Homeschooling boomed when schools shifted to remote learning because of COVID-19.
Mecklenburg and Wake counties, the state’s largest districts, have seen similar trends. In the Charlotte region, Lincoln, Union and Iredell counties saw slight increases in home-schooling during the past year, while Cabarrus and Gaston counties logged fewer home-schooled students. All remain well above 2019 numbers.
The state’s Division of Non-Public Education estimates home-school enrollment and publishes the data in the summer after a school year ends. The division also tallies private school enrollment but as of Monday afternoon that data had not been posted for 2022-23. The website says it’s coming by the end of July.