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The 2024-25 school year is the first time North Carolina’s taxpayer-funded private school voucher program (i.e., Opportunity Scholarship voucher program) has no income limits. Even the wealthiest families—with incomes greater than $260,000/year—could receive a $3,360 voucher (per child) to help offset tuition at a private school. Families with lower incomes received up to $7,460 per child. Private schools in wealthy urban/suburban counties gained the most, leaving mostly rural counties to subsidize their private school education.
View an interactive map of the increase in funding by county.
| County | Increase in Voucher Tuition from
2023-24 to 2024-25 |
| (1) Wake | $42.6M |
| (1) Mecklenburg | $27.3M |
| (2) Forsyth, Guilford | $12.3M, $15.4M |
| (9) Catawba, Durham, Buncombe, Gaston, Pitt, Alamance, New Hanover, Union, Cumberland | $5.1M – $10.4M |
| (31) Burke, Scotland, Stanly, Brunswick, Nash, Pasquotank, Orange, Harnett, Carteret, Chatham, McDowell, Vance, Halifax, Lincoln, Rockingham, Beaufort, Randolph, Lenoir, Moore, Sampson, Henderson, Wayne, Lee, Craven, Wilson, Rowan, Davidson, Johnston, Onslow, Iredell, Cabarrus | $1.0M – $4.8M |
| (14) Rutherford, Jackson, Watauga, Robeson, Alexander, Franklin, Surry, Caldwell, Cleveland, Stokes, Hertford, Bertie, Pamlico, Richmond | $526K – $963K |
| (17) Clay, Columbus, Cherokee, Dare, Pender, Polk, Macon, Chowan, Duplin, Greene, Avery, Madison, Transylvania, Bladen, Wilkes, Haywood, Northampton, | $105K – $493K |
| (9) Yancey, Swain, Davie, Mitchell, Hoke, Anson, Person, Granville, Currituck | $3K – $92K |
| (14) Alleghany, Ashe, Camden, Caswell, Edgecombe, Gates, Graham, Hyde, Jones, Martin, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Washington, Yadkin (Most have no voucher-accepting private schools) | $0 |
| (2) Montgomery, Warren (Private schools closed or had fewer voucher students) | < $0 |
| Data Sources: NCSEAA, NCDOA |