New Report: NC Voucher School Curriculum Review

Public Schools First NC has released a new report: NC K-12 Private Schools 2024-25: A Review of Curriculum!

“Because voucher programs, like the one in North Carolina, are supported through tax revenues, the public has a stake in knowing whether the money spent represents a sound investment. In addition, because attendance at a private school meets the state’s compulsory education requirement, the state has a stake in being assured that the education offered meets basic standards.”(School Vouchers in North Carolina: The First Three Years, Children’s Law Clinic & Duke Law School)

North Carolina’s lawmakers have spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on private school vouchers since the program’s launch in 2014, but they still require no oversight of the curriculum taught by the schools that receive state funds.

This lack of academic accountability is in sharp contrast to public schools, which must select curriculum aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, a rigorously developed and reviewed set of content standards designed to prepare students for postsecondary college and career options.

Our new report focuses on the curriculum taught in North Carolina's K-12 private schools that received vouchers for the 2024-2025 school year. It is modeled on research completed by the North Carolina League of Women Voters of the Lower Cape Fear (NC LWV-LCF) in 2017.

The reports show 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.

The report includes recommends that the North Carolina General Assembly establish a study commission to examine the curriculum taught at private schools receiving taxpayer voucher funds. The commission should be charged with evaluating whether the biblical worldview curriculum (and other curriculum taught in voucher-receiving private schools) meets the learning standards necessary for our high school students to succeed after high school in the 21st century.

Click on the link below for the curriculum details for each NC K-12 private school receiving voucher funding.

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Public Schools First NC is a statewide nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused solely

on pre-K to 12 public education issues. We collaborate with parents, teachers, business and civic leaders, and communities across North Carolina to advocate for one unified system of public education that prepares each child for productive citizenship.

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