Homeschools Continue Growth

Special Report - August 12, 2010
Home-schooling in North Carolina continues to grow in popularity, with a new State report showing that just over 81,0000 students were home-schooled during the 2009-10 school year. According to the annual report released in August by the State Division of Non-Public Education, the number of home-schooled students has more than doubled over the past decade, from 28,000 students in 16,000 home schools in the 1999-2000 school year, to 81,509 students in the state’s 43,316 registered home schools in the most recent school year. When the State first began tracking the number of home schools and home-schooled students in the 1985-86 school year, there were only 809 students in 381 home schools. Of the 43,316 home schools registered with the State in 2009-10, about two-thirds (65.6 percent) are “religious” home-schools, while 34.4 percent are “independent” home-schools.

According to the State Division of Non-Public Education, North Carolina officially recognized home schools in May of 1985, after the State Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in the case, Delconte v. North Carolina. The decision, which legally opened the door for home education in North Carolina, dealt with the question of whether a home-schooling parent, Larry Delconte, had violated the state’s compulsory school attendance laws by educating his two children at home. The State Supreme Court ruled that he had not, but left the question of the constitutionality of home education to the General Assembly. Following the ruling, the General Assembly enacted a law in 1988 that defined a home school as “a nonpublic school in which one or more children of not more than two families or households receive academic instruction from parents or legal guardians, or a member of either household,” and set specific legal requirements, including that home school instructors hold “at least a high school diploma or its equivalent.”

In an upcoming interview on the North Carolina Family Policy Council’s weekly radio program, “Family Policy Matters,” Spencer Mason, president of North Carolinians for Home Education (NCHE), discussed the growth of home-schooling in the state with NCFPC president, Bill Brooks. “I think the primary reason [more parents are choosing to home school] is that parents have seen home-schooled children being raised and they like what they see, and they want the same for their family,” Mason said. “They've seen the results of home-schooling, and of course the more it grows in the state, the more people see its results.”

Related articles:
Study Refutes Anti-Social Myth - December 17, 2009
UNdetermining The Family - FNC July 2009
Study Shows Homeschooled Students Excel - August 13, 2009
Home Schooling on the Rise in N.C. - August 3, 2006
Home School Protection Bill Introduced in Congress - October 18, 2005
Homeschool Numbers Continue Upward Climb - September 12, 2005

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