Our Reports
NC K-12 Private Schools 2024-25: A Review of Curriculum (August 2026)
Our report focuses on the curriculum taught in North Carolina’s K-12 private schools that received vouchers for the 2025-2026 school year. We found that the majority of voucher-receiving private schools use a biblical worldview curriculum that some education experts worry does not have the academic content and rigor required by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study when preparing students for postsecondary options.
North Carolina School Vouchers: Destroying Public Education (January 2026)
Our new report examines North Carolina’s decade-long and failing voucher experiment. It describes the history of voucher programs in the state, explores the original justifications for implementing them, and documents their growth; analyzes the pedagogical and operational differences between public and private schools; considers the mechanisms through which private schools are exempt from accountability measures that apply to public schools; and discusses problems with voucher programs in North Carolina and in other states, including poor academic outcomes.
NC School Vouchers: Using Tax Dollars to Discriminate Against Students & Families (no appendix), July 2025
- APPENDIX for NC School Vouchers: Using Tax Dollars to Discriminate Against Students & Families, July 2025
Our report identifies the many policies and practices used by North Carolina’s voucher-accepting private schools to screen applicants to secure their desired student population. The policies range from exclusions based on religious beliefs of students and family members, to academic performance, disability status, and whether an applicant or family member is part of the LGBTQ+ community. The report provides examples and recommendations for lawmakers.
NC Charter Schools: Undermining Quality Education for All (November 2025)
North Carolina charter schools are publicly funded elementary and secondary schools operated independently by non-profit organizations, some of which partner with for-profit groups. Charter schools first opened in North Carolina in 1997. In 2011, despite evidence of uneven student outcomes, lawmakers abandoned the original statewide numerical cap.