North Carolina public schools are losing students to charter schools, private schools and homeschooling, reports T. Keung Hui in the Charlotte Observer. Nearly 1 in 5 North Carolina students is not attending a traditional public school,” writes Hui. “For the third year in a row, enrollment has fallen in North Carolina’s traditional public schools even as the number of students continues to rise in charter schools, private schools and homeschools.” The General Assembly, under

School safety fears are pushing parents to consider homeschooling, writes Valerie Richardson in the Washington Times. After a gunman opened fire on students in Parkland, Florida, the phones started ringing at the Texas Home School Coalition, and they haven’t stopped yet. . . . “When the Parkland shooting happened, our phone calls and emails exploded,” said coalition president Tim Lambert. “In the last couple of months, our numbers have doubled. We’re dealing with probably bet

School choice shouldn’t be controversial, writes Chris Stewart on Citizen Ed. School Choice Week reminds us that “hundreds of thousands of children are on waiting lists for charter schools,” he writes. “There are many more students with special needs for whom private programs would be better, but they lack the financial support to access those schools. And, there are the students for whom homeschooling would make a world of difference.” Stewart sees choice opponents as “paren

After doubling from 1999 to 2012, the percentage of homeschool students appears to have leveled off at 3.3 percent, reports Sarah Grady for the National Center for Education Statistics. The most important reason for homeschooling in 2016 was “concern about the school environment, such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure,” reported by 34 percent of parents of homeschooled students, according to the First Look report. Other reasons cited as most important by families of

Americans think private schools provide the best K-12 education, according to a new Gallup poll. Next in order are parochial, charter, home and public schooling. While 71 percent think independent private schools provide an excellent or good education, only 44 percent give high ratings to public schools. Parents with children in school hold similar views to adults without school-aged children. Democrats are the most positive about public schooling, but still give top marks to